Somewhere
by Freiha
Summary: Link returns to Ordon to forget past events, but his nightmares of the past keep torturing him. If it wasn't enough, an ancient evil escapes from its prison. Can Link bring peace back again or will he fail, as neither Princess Zelda nor his faithful weapon, the Master Sword, can assist him - for both have disappeared without a trace.
1. Prologue

The last rays of the sun faded and the moon shifted over the horizon. It was a full, perfectly circular moon that cast its light on a forest. The rays penetrated the treetops, occasionally reaching the ground covered by fallen leaves and immersing the forest in a dim, almost eerie light. An owl crawled out of its hiding place, a hollow tree trunk where it had slept all day. When most of the other forest dwellers had settled down, she was just becoming lively. She lifted one wing and plucked some of her brown feathers, which had gotten messed up during her sleep, with her short beak. Finally she spread her wings and pushed herself away from the branch.

Silently she glided through the cool night air, gained height with a few strong flaps of her wings, and broke through the canopy of leaves. Her feathers were bathed in bright moonlight. Her only companion was her shadow, which glided under her over the treetops.

Then she turned her head. Something had caught her attention. An unusual noise.

She listened, but heard nothing but the sound of the leaves in the gentle breeze that had been blowing from the north since nightfall.

The gaze of her large, yellow eyes wandered across the moonlit canopy, its leaves swaying in the breeze like waves of a great sea interrupted only by the clearings that had opened between the trees.

Elegantly she let herself sink down again, back through the treetops and landed gently on a branch.

Here she would wait for food.

She picked up another sound. A hiss followed by cracking twigs, as several shadows were rushing by under her branch. So she hadn't been wrong earlier.

She pondered briefly, then lifted off and followed them, driven by her curiosity. Like ghosts, the figures moved towards the darkest part of the woods, where the forest spirits let their horrible calls be heard at night.

The figures paused and offered the bird time to take a closer look at them. There were five women. There was nothing else to be seen due to the dense treetops, which did not let any moonlight shine through. The owl immediately remembered why she had always avoided this part of the forest. Her eyes were perfectly adapted to the darkness but the magic that lay over this place made it difficult to see, even for her.

The five women started moving again, further north, in the maze of winding paths between dense bushes and narrow trees.

A small light that had appeared in front of them showed them the way. Immediately the owl realized that it was not one of the forest spirits haunting the area. Slowly she got the uncomfortable feeling that something was wrong and suddenly the women seemed suspicious. A shiver ran down her spine. What were such shady figures looking for in the forest at this time?

A soft scream escaped her beak, but the women seemed to take no notice of her.

After a long time spent in this adamant darkness she found the brightness of the clearing a torture for her sensitive eyes. It took a short time for her to get used to it and turn her attention back to what was happening in front of her.

She didn't even know that there was such a huge clearing here neiter had she known about the ruins spreading out before her.

The women scampered across an open space that must have once been a large courtyard. Between the half-decayed walls of a once impressive building, they held out to a small platform that rose out of the damp grass. In its middle was a rectangular stone with a sword in it. Although the building around the pedestal was half dilapidated and overgrown with plants and moss, the pedestal remained untouched by any decay. So was the sword. Its sharp blade glimmered silver in the moonlight. The parry bar resembled a pair of spread wings; their tips pointing towards the night sky about to ascent. Fireflies danced around the sword, casting their small lights onto its surface and making the wings look even more realistic. The owl watched the scene in awe. She had almost forgotten the women until they pushed themselves into her vision.

They remained close to the pedestal but not yet setting a foot onto the untouched surface. They positioned themselves in a circular shape around the sword. For a moment there was complete silence. The womens weren't moving. Then they rose their hands towards the sword and began to mumble quiet words.

Interested in the scene, the bird sat down on one of the demolished walls and watched from a safe distance.

One of the women entered the platform and touched the grip. A small flash of lightning twitched around the blade and the person stumbled back. Nodding to her companions, she returned to her position next to the platform.

The owl came closer and closer to the action, restlessly hunting back and forth on its little wall. What were they up to? And what was this place all about?

The owl was only a few meters away from the women and listened to their murmur. But she could not understand. She only knew that these sounds did not resemble the sounds of the other people she had met in her forest.

Thick clouds rose and covered the moon, lightning flashed across the sky and thunder rumbled from afar.

The women didn't look up, didn't move, just kept mumbling their words.

Then lightning struck directly into the platform. The clearing was bathed in bright light. A scream! Another bolt of lightning struck, closely followed by a third. Disturbed, the women looked up, one of them waving her arms. Her companions looked towards her. They spun round as a loud crash was heard originating from the platform.

A shock wave swept across the clearing, tearing the women from their feet. Screeching, the owl flew up and fluttered away in panic towards the forest. At a safe distance she settled on a branch and turned back to the action, still driven by her curiosity.

Lightning struck the earth and hit the clearing. Chunks of earth were thrown into the air and hit the floor among the dense treetops of the surrounding forest.

It was gone as quickly as it has started. Darkness lay over the destroyed clearing once again until the moon regained its dominance over the clouds and cast its pale light on the ground.

The owl flew up and circled above the scene.

Deep chasms ran through the earth towards the pedestal. The tattered and partly burnt bodies of the five women lay on the scorched earth covered in blood. Their eyes wide open, their skin ghostly white, bleached by the bright light.

In the middle of the pedestal lay an unconscious girl with blue skin, dressed in a short blue dress. A scarf hung from her shoulders, protruding left and right beyond her fingertips. Slowly she regained consciousness and opened her eyes. What had happened? Confused and with an expression of horror in her blue eyes, she noticed the dead bodies scattered all around her.

She clumsily straightened up, but immediately fell back onto her knees. Confused she looked at her hands. Then she lowered her head and seemed to consider before finally pulling herself together again and staggering laboriously from the platform towards the forest.

* * *

Hello everyone,

This is an old story I wrote in 2010 and finally decided to translate it into English and publish here as well. The original language is German. Please let me know if something sounds weird. I've a hard time spotting mistakes in my own English writing. I doing my best, though.

The story is already finished and I plan to upload a chapter every other week as long as I have chapters ready for uploading (I still need to finish translating).

Thanks to my friend zelda-freak91 over at deviantart for proof reading the first couple of chapters and her support (can't add a link to her profile but check her out! She's got some great Zelda fanart and fan comics).

Some facts about the story (for people who like to know more about it):  
**Claimer and Disclaimer:** Most of the characters belong to Nintendo and are right out of the Zelda games. The fan fiction takes place about 6 months after Twilight Princess but there'll be characters from other Zelda games, too. I might get some of the names wrong, though, as I'm used to the German names and have to replace them. Eventually one might slip. If so, please let me know.  
There are also a few characters that belong to me (Zelda fans will know which ones) and since I had a few fan fiction writing friends, which I said "thank you" by featuring their characters in the fan fiction, there will be two or so characters that are neither from me nor from Nintendo. I will give credit when those characters appear or remove them in case the original creators don't like them to be in the story again. ^^  
**Warning:** I tend to kill lots of secondary characters to show that the main characters are in a really dangerous situation. People sensitive with character death or gore might not like this story. The gore isn't all that detailed but you need to be ready for it (I've added some example all the way down after this list of facts. If you aren't sure you can take the gore in the story, check it out. For everyone else: Small spoilers down there (Edit some time later: I just realized I forgot the reading sample. I added it now, so, here you go :) ).  
**Length:** The story has 80 chapters which can roughly be separated into three parts. I don't know if it will be as many chapters once I've finished the revision. I drew a cover image for every part but fan fiction net let's me upload only one cover image. If you'd like to check out the others, please go to my deviantart account (linked in my profile) and you'll find all the covers and maybe even more fan fiction related art there.  
**Progress:** (this is the state of revision when I upload the first chapter, I won't update this info, it's just here so you know I've already fixed a fair amount of chapters) As of today I've finished revising all chapters up to 23 and started with 24. 24 is the first one that's really challenging as I'm going to remove a whole bunch of it and rewrite it (I didn't really like it and I remember it got a lot of more or less negative critiques.. - or let's say: Not really negative critique, I simply didn't like some of the readers interpretations. Thinking about it, some of the parts were indeed pretty forced. So let's make the characters' decisions a little more natural and relatable without destroying the rest of the story *eyelid twitches*).  
**Sidenote:** The fan fiction was written based on the very first artwork released of Skyward Sword, with a blue skinned girl standing back to back with Link who wasn't wielding the master sword. Back then, no one had any idea who the girl was. Just think about how old this story is.  
The story is named after Somewhere from Within Temptation as I was in love with this song back when I wrote the fan fiction and I still think it is kinda fitting.

This fan fiction was translated with deepl .org the probably most awesome translator out there. It makes things a lot easier, even though I still have to proof read every chapter several times to spot any mistakes. :)

_**Gore reading sample**: (It's probably not going to be worse than this) The water of the fountain swabbed in the basin, it's color a deep red. The symbol on top of the fountain was sprinkled with blood. In the water, on the edge of the basin and around the well, there were arms and legs, bloody shreds of skin and tufts of hair. A tattered corpse leaned against the basin. The head hung lifeless to the side and exposed the neck, which lacked a shred of skin. The fibers of the muscles and parts of the spine were clearly visible._


	2. A Clueless Guest

A gentle breeze swept through the treetops of the forest. A small flock of birds jumped back and forth between the branches of the trees in search of berries, taking advantage of the early morning sun that was just sending its first rays over the horizon. A squirrel gnawed at a nut, but let it fall in shock and scurried over the branch into a hole in the tree trunk as a man hurried past under its just abandoned seat.

"Link," the man shouted, rushing through Ordon. A small village located in a small valley surrounded by trees. He was on his way to the pasture, where a goatherd lay in the grass in the company of the goats that grazed the juicy vegetation. The young man had folded his hands behind his head, seemingly fast asleep. He wore the traditional clothes of the Ordonians, consisting of a sleeveless shirt, brown britches and sandals. He had an orange scarf tied around his waist as a belt, holding a blue cloth wrapped around his body.

"Hey Link!" The newcomer stopped in front of him and gently nudged him on his shoulder.

The blond man shot up. His breath was fast and uneven. He was puzzled for a moment, but then saw his friend's face and exhaled in relief. "Oh, it's you, Rusl."

Rusl was a goatherd and thus wore similar clothes as Link did, even though Rusl was significantly older than Link. Rusl even had blond hair and blue eyes and usually had his beard not fully trimmed leaving some stubbles around his mouth and chin. Next to Link, Rusl was the only one in Ordon capable of swordfighting. The biggest difference between the man was probably, that Link had pointed ears, which was not the case with anybody else living in Ordon.

"Well, you're easily scared nowadays, aren't you."

Link sighed, closed his blue eyes for a moment and then shook his head slowly.

"Was it one of those nightmares again," Rusl inquired worriedly and offered Link a hand to get up. "You might want to go see Princess Zelda for that matter."

Even though Link hadn't told anybody about his adventures, Rusl was there when Link entered the castle to slay Ganondorf and he was also honored by the Princess herself for his deeds to the kingdom.

"Maybe," Link considered. "Why did you come here?" he immediately changed the subject. „Isn't it your free day?"

"Oh well." Rusl contemplated. "There was another goat in the forest. She ran away before I got her."

He examined Link worriedly.

"It would be best if you took a day off. That's the fifth time you've fallen asleep at work and a goat has run off."

Again the blonde sighed and walked past Rusl.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find the goat!"

"And what about the others," Rusl inquired and pointed to the herd.

Link turned around briefly, but didn't stop. "Please take care of them until I get back."

Rusl shook his head.

"What is wrong with you? You've been acting so odd ever since you came back. Is everything all right?"

Link stopped. How could Rusl know what had happened? The young Hylian hadn't told anyone about his adventure with Midna. The countless monsters that scared him to this day. He was ashamed of it. He was the hero of Hyrule and a hero should not be afraid of things that were long gone. It was over. Everything was fine. Since his victory over Ganondorf, the monsters had been pushed back and the inhabitants of Hyrule could indulge their lives peacefully.

"I'm fine." With these words Link turned around and hurried off the pasture.

Back when Midna was with him, he wasn't afraid. He knew there had been a strong companion by his side. She had helped him out more than once and without her he would have never been able to save Hyrule. When Ganondorf was defeated, the beautiful Princess of Twilight returned to her realm and destroyed the only portal, the Twilight Mirror, which connected the light world with the Twilight Realm.

Since then he has been tormented by nightmares, visions of gigantic creatures who sought to tear him to pieces.

He had tried to escape them, but they had pursued him. He longed to continue where he had left off when the shadows had fallen into the land, but that wasn't so easy anymore.

He left the village and walked past his tree house. Epona, his brown cold-blooded mare, stood next to the village entrance and greeted him with a soft neigh as he passed by completely lost in his thoughts.

Startled, he looked up. Epona nodded her head, making him smile. He lovingly scratched his mare under her chin before he swung on her back and trotted off into the forest. At least he had a friend with whom he could talk about the past events. Even though she couldn't say anything to comfort him.

Epona was a smart horse. The moment Link sat on her back, she immediately lowered her head and tried to pick up the smell of the runaway goat. They had been searching for goats so often recently that she knew exactly what to look out for. She turned her ears forward and widened her nostrils as she came across the familiar scent. At first barely perceptible, it became stronger with every step. The horse snorted contentedly suggesting to Link that they were on the right track.

Her rider left it to her. He trusted his friend, who had so often turned out to be a courageous aide.

After a while Epona stopped. She first turned her ears and then her big head to the left and looked into the dense forest beyond the path.

At first it seemed as if she was contemplating, then she shoved her hooves into the ground and threw her head back.

Link lifted his arm up in front of his face to protect his eyes from the mane that struck him. A cold shiver ran down Link's back. The last time Epona had behaved like that was some time ago and that was...No, he didn't want to think about it. It was over! It had to be something else that scared the mare so much.

Slowly he climbed from her back, patted her neck soothingly and tried to recognize something in the thicket. If monsters appeared now, he would be at their mercy, without a weapon, in the middle of the forest. The master sword immediately came to his mind. The holy weapon was resting in a stone deep in the darkest part of the forbidden woods. Surrounded by ruins and guarded by forest spirits, it was waiting to be used again against the evil forces threatening the peace in Hyrule. Link hoped it would never happen again.

With a scrutinizing look back at Epona, who gently nudged him with her nostrils, Link pushed some branches aside and left the forest path. Epona watched him, snorted encouragingly, but didn't even think about making a move. The mare watched him with interest. She kept an eye on him until he disappeared behind the trees.

Slowly Link went ahead, looking around with every step. He heard the cracking of a branch, then the rustling of leaves.

He turned around and tried to spot the thing that was moving the undergrowth.

It approached smackingly, then jumped onto the path he had just created and bleated, wagging its tail. He had found the goat!

Relieved, Link petted the animal on the back of its nose. He grabbed the goat by the horns, as goatherds do with goats, and pulled it in the direction he had come from. However, the animal was barely moving. It dug its delicate hooves into the soft forest floor and shook its head before beginning to nibble on Link's trousers. Perplexed, Link pondered as the goat took a step back, pulling him with it. He was barely able to keep his balance but lucky for him, could hold on to a nearby tree.

Carefully the animal dragged him by his trousers further and further through the trees, deeper into the forest.

"What is this about? Let go! We have to go back to Ordon!" Link tried to convince the animal, but the goat didn't let itself be put off.

After some time it finally let go of his trousers, turned around and trotted off, vanishing in the nearby bushes.

With a sigh Link climbed after her and paused.

The goat stood in front of a tree and looked at him expectantly. Next to the tree lay a girl. Apart from the fact that this forest was probably not an appropriate place for a girl to rest, the girl in front of him was of an extremely strange color. Her skin was blue. The clothes also seemed strange. Link immediately concluded that she was not from around here. Slowly he approached her and realized that she had blue hair as well. He had never seen anything like her before.

"Who...," Link began, but was interrupted by the goat, who bleated at him somewhat impatiently.

Cautiously Link scrutinized the child, then the surroundings. There was no one to see or hear. No signs of life apart from the goat, which had lowered its head and scratched the ground.

Link could not leave the child here. Gently he shook the dainty shoulder. The girl did not move. Her skin was cold.

Without losing another thought, Link lifted the child, who showed no sign of life, and followed the goat back to the path. All of a sudden, the horned animal was very well-behaved and was obedient to Link's every word.

Epona pricked her ears as the three stepped out of the forest and the Ordonian carefully laid the girl on the horse's back.

So as not to hurt or throw her off, Epona put her hooves down as gently a spossible as they slowly walked back to the village.

Meanwhile the sun was already standing much higher and the forest was more alive than it was before. The sun's rays fell through the treetops in long beams into the forest, which seemed as if it had sprung from a fairy tale.

Without any waiting for Link, the goat trotted through the village towards the pasture, where it was already greeted by its friends with loud bleating.

Link had Epona stop and lifted the girl from the mare's back.

The Ordonians, who had just been working on the pumpkin fields next to the river that divided the village, came running and curiously scraped around the young man.

"Who is she," inquired the somewhat chubbier shopkeeper and looked at the blue child suspiciously.

Link just shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I found her in the middle of the forest."

Ilia, his childhood friend and daughter of the mayor, pushed herself between the spectators and worriedly looked at the girl in Link's arms.

"Can you take care of her," Link inquired, remembering that the mayor's daughter with the short brown hair and pretty blue eyes couldn't see anyone suffering. She had already helped a young Zora boy once and also took care of Epona with loving devotion.

Ilia nodded. "It is best to bring her to our house. I'm sure father won't mind," she suggested and went ahead. Link followed her.

When he got to the house, he laid the child in Ilia's bed, which she generously offered.

"She's a strange girl. I wonder where she comes from," Ilia thought out loudly and placed a bowl of water on the little table next to her bed.

"I have no idea," Link admitted, looking at the girl. "She is certainly not from here. She's got blue skin, maybe she's a Twili."

"What?

"Oh nothing, I just thought out loud." Quickly Link turned around. Something he wanted to keep to himself had almost slipped out.

"I have to get back to work," he muttered and left the house.

Ilia intended to stop him, but he was already up and gone. She had no choice but to look after him without objection.

Sometimes he was very terse. It became more and more obvious to her that he interrupted himself ever so often. Sometimes she didn't recognize him at all. In former times he had been so open and honest, but now she had the feeling that he was lying to her whenever she looked him in the eyes – such eyes, which used to have a bright joyful sparkle that was now covered by a dark shadow. Something had happened to him. Something he didn't like to entrust to anyone. It probably had something to do with his journey. She would find out what it was. She took it upon herself to do so.

v~v*v~v*v~v

In the middle of the night Ilia woke up. She opened her eyes and stared into the darkness that filled the entire room. At first she didn't know where she was, but after a few seconds she recognized the shadowy silhouettes of the furniture in the living room of her house.

A quiet snoring came from the room behind the door where her father slept.

At first she thought the snoring was what woke her up when a soft groan was heard from above, coming out of her room.

'The girl!' She immediately shoved the blanket aside and left her resting place, a bench that had been poorly made into a bed. With a few quite steps she lit a lamp, which - in wise foresight - had been placed on a table next to her resting place. Soft-footedly, she made her way up the wooden stairs and slipped into her room. Her first glance fell on the empty bed, then on the girl on the floor, and finally on the broken bowl, which Ilia had left on her bedside table the day before.

Immediately she rushed to the child, who tried unsuccessfully to upright herself.

"What are you doing there," she whispered to the child and attempted to maneuver her back into the bed.

"Link," whispered the girl. "I have to go to Link! Where is he?"

Ilia stopped briefly and began to think. When she recognized the desperate and exhausted expression on the girl's face, she nodded. She lifted the child back into the bed. "I'll go get him, wait here, okay?"

"Link," the girl mumbled again.

"Wait here! I'll be right back!" Ilia slowly moved away from the girl, took another look back and then scurried down the stairs to the mayor's bedroom.

"Father," she yelled and banged against the door. A crack from inside told her he just got up from his bed and the following slurp indicated he was on his way to the door.

"What is it? Have I overslept," he muttered drowsily through the door before it opened quietly.

In front of Ilia stood a tall man with a slight tendency towards obesity and a beard that appeard like horns standing away from his upper lip.

"You must go and get Link," Ilia said, trying to turn her face out of the light of the lamp, for she was sure she blushed.

Her father scratched his head. Obviously drowsy and therefore unable to resist, he slipped into a tent sized bathrobe, took the lamp from Ilia and slurped out of the house with no further remarks. He had long since given up arguing with his daughter, even when she didn't get him out of bed with strange requests in the middle of the night. The sooner he left, the sooner he was back to get back to bed. Admittedly, it was very strange when his 17-year-old daughter sent for the shepherd boy at night, but he knew Link was a decent young man. It probably was because of the girl in Ilia's room.

Meanwhile, Ilia ran up the stairs again and lit the lamp hanging in her room. The girl sat in bed, mumbling the same words over and over again. As quietly as possible Ilia picked up the bowl shards and put them back on the table in a clean pile - she would put it away tomorrow morning - while the girl whispered on.

"Who are you," Ilia carefully attempted to find out.

The girl didn't turn her head, she didn't even interrupt her mumbling.

"Where do you come from," Ilia continued.

Again no response.

Ilia sat down at the side of the bed and watched her guest. The girl was indeed strange and almost uncanny the way she was sitting in the bed. Stiff as a stick and always whispering the same words. It was an eery view.

She heard the door downstairs open, then her father's heavy footsteps and finally the footsteps of a lighter person.

"Link is here," she told the girl. Finally the girl moved. She turned her head alerted. "Link? Where is he? I must go to him!" She was about to get up again but Ilia stopped her. When she touched the girl's shoulders, a sharp pain ran through her fingers. Ilia stumbled back. Horrified, she looked at the girl in the bed. What was that? That didn't happen before!

When she heard footsteps approaching the room, she turned around.

"Link," she exclaimed. A few seconds the shepherd boy appeared in the door.

"What's the matter," he yawned. He was tired and his hair stood out in all directions. He wore nothing but his britches. He had not even put on his sandals.

"Link," whispered the girl. Her eyes were fixed on the young man in the door frame. Then she leapt out of bed, skipped towards him and wrapped her arms around him.

Link felt something move inside him. It seemed as if some of the dark memories and fear suddenly disappeared.

The girl loosened the embrace, looked into his eyes and laughed at him. Her laughter was bright and honest.

Ilia stood beside the bed in amazement. Just a moment ago this girl could hardly stand straigt up and now she was jumping around as if nothing had happened. Besides, Link didn't seem to mind if he touched the blue skin, unlike herself.

The young man seemed no less surprised.

"Link," grinned the girl. "I finally found you!"

Confused, Link looked at Ilia, but as she shrugged her shoulders, his gaze moved back to the girl.

"What do you want from me," he inquired and tried to sound as tender as possible.

The child giggled, turned around twice and finally hopped back into bed, "I don't know. I hoped you could tell me."

She sat cross-legged on the bedspread, expectantly eyeing Link.

"Who are you," Ilia repeated her question from earlier.

The girl looked from Ilia to Link. Then her demanding gaze remained on Link.

He had no idea what to make of it.

"Are you a creature of the twilight," he expressed his first guess.

"Like Midna," the girl pondered loudly and looked at Link's surprised expression. How did this child know about the pretty Princess of the Twilight? Who was this girl?

"No, I don't think so," she concluded.

"Midna," Ilia repeated questioningly, looking back and forth between the two. A peculiar atmosphere spread throughout the room and made her feel uncomfortable.

For a while, no one said a word, then the blue-skinned girl sighed.

"I don't know anything. Suddenly I woke up in the middle of a ruin and the only thing I know is your name. So I was looking for you and here you are." Disappointedly she dropped her head. "But apparently you can't help me, neither".

Link pondered, not sure what to make of it. This child was strangely familiar to him, like someone with whom he had fought side by side for a long time without ever really noticing.

"Maybe Zelda can help you," he finally said.

The child peered up. "Princess Zelda?

Link nodded. "I can take you to her."

"Yes, please," she shouted and clapped her hands. "Does that mean we're going on a trip with Epona?"

Link slowly became suspicious. How would she know the name of his horse? There was no logical explanation. Or at least Link couldn't think of any.

"How do you know all that when you say you don't remember anything," he went on, but the child remained unimpressed by the clearly threatening tone in his voice.

"No idea. I just know it, but ... I didn't know it before," she explained, ponderously staring at the wall behind Link.

"Are you soon finished up there," the sleepy and impatient voice of the mayor could be heard from below.

"Ooops. He wanted to wait until I came down again. He would like to know what's going on, too," Link explained and turned to the girl again.

"Watch out, I'll come back tomorrow, then we'll talk more, OK? Please stay with Ilia until then. Alright?" The girl nodded tentatively.

He turned around and left the room. "Good night!"


	3. Princess Zelda of Hyrule

As soon as the first ray of sunlight hit the earth, Link stormed out of his tree house and climbed down the ladder. He wore his green tunic again, the only robe in which he dared to face Zelda. On his back he carried the Hylia shield and a sword that Rusl had given him on his return from his journey. It was a gift from the resistance fighters who had gathered around Telma, a busty innkeeper from Hyrule Castle Town, to defend their home land. They had been there for Link to aid him on his quest. They didn't know about Link's true identity as the chosen hero of Hyrule, but they figured Link was hiding a secret. Either way, they supported and trusted him.

Even though the monsters had been expelled from Hyrule Link felt safer having his weapons on his back. Link didn't want to take any chances. Since his return, he had rarely left Ordon, which is why he didn't know what was going on outside the forest he called home.

He yawned as he jumped down the last rungs of the ladder.

His own curiosity had kept him awake the rest of the night. What should he think of that girl? And what he was most interested in was why he felt so weird around her. He couldn't place the feeling. It seemed so familiar to him and yet somehow strange.

He looked around for Epona, but she wasn't standing in her favorite spot next to the tree trunk. She was probably already out and about as Link let her run free whenever he didn't need her. He knew she never ran far from the village. He was going to summon her when they were about to leave.

He strolled into the village, which was only about to wake up.

Even from a distance he saw Epona standing in front of the mayor's house. The mare was already saddled. Had he forgotten to unsaddle her the day before or did Ilia have her fingers in the pie?

As he approached Epona, she raised her head and pricked up her ears attentively into his direction. Soothingly she snorted. He caressed her nostrils as he passed by and entered the house after knocking briefly. Ilia stormed down the stairs into the living room.

"Good morning," she sang in a good mood. "Did you rest well?" She let her gaze slide over his tunic and her cheeks turned slightly red.

"Yes," Link lied and looked questioningly up the. Ilia noticed.

"Do you want to leave right away," she asked and after she received a short nod as an answer she turned around. "Enora! Are you coming? Link is here!"

"Enora?," Link inquired interested.

"Well, she needs a name, doesn't she. We both agreed on this one," Ilia explained swiftly, for there were already quiet footsteps to be heard and the young girl appeared on the top of the staircase. She wore the blue dress from the day before. Quietly she made her way down the stairs. She wasn't wearing any shoes.

Together the three of them went outside.

"You didn't pack anything," Ilia commented with a quick glance at Epona.

"Why? The trip doesn't take long. Epona is fast," he explained. "Although... We might need a little something to eat," he added when he noticed Ilia's disappointed face.

Ilia smiled, then she pressed a bundle into his hand. "Here, I made it for you."

"Ilia, you're awesome," Link praised delightedly and embraced his lady friend to say goodbye, before first lifting Enora onto the mare and taking place in the saddle in front of her.

He directed Epona to the exit of the village. Ilia walked alongside them and bombarded Enora with all sorts of warnings and advices.

"And always listen to Link," she closed as she stopped under Link's tree house and watched the three travelers as they departed waving.

"Take good care of yourselves," she called after them while she watched Epona's tail disappear behind a turn.

Link urged the mare into a slow and smooth gallop.

When they reached the bridge that separated the southernmost area of Hyrule from Faron, Epona curiously pricked up her ears. They had not been so far away from home for a long time.

Link noticed this and comfortingly patted the horse's neck. He received a friendly snort.

As the sun was standing high above their heads they took a break in a clearing.

Ilia had packed them bread and goat cheese. Enora was delighted to see the food. Happily she munched her share.

"It tastes so good," she smacked between two bites and beamed at Link.

He gazed thoughtfully into the sky and watched the few clouds passing by.

"I am already looking forward to seeing Princess Zelda. I've never spoken to her before," Enora continued cheerfully.

"You'll like her," Link said. "She is a friendly and wise woman. I'm sure she can help you."

Enora nodded excitedly. When she had swallowed her last bite she jumped up.

"Can we go on?" Excited she jumped towards Epona. The mare was not disturbed by the child and went on peacefully gnawing on her tuft of grass.

Link got up with a sigh, packed the leftovers of bread and cheese and put the bundle in Epona's saddlebag. He then swung himself onto her back. Enora had climbed up the horse by herself all alone using a large stone as step.

Soon Epona set off along the path in a gallop. After some time passed, the forest cleared up and the towers of the castle emerged on the distant horizon.

They dashed at stunning speed across the plain that stretched between the forest and the town where the castle was located.

A merchant moved east with his horse-drawn cart. The sun shone on the dark grey fur of the merchant's horse, which had closed its eyes, enjoying the warmth, as it leisurely put one hoof in front of the other.

A slight wind came up and blew Epona's whinny over to the grey ears, but the other horse didn't reply.

As the city wall came up in front of them and got bigger and bigger, the Epona slowed down to a trot and finally to a walk. They passed the gate and found themselves in a busy street. The everyday hustle and bustle of the market had filled the streets of the city. Some merchants loudly announced their special offers of fresh fruit and vegetables, while customers crowded around the stands. A few children ran around betwen the legs of the adults and played catch.

Some of the passers-by turned to Link and acknowledged him friendly.

He simply nodded back.

His adventure had made him famous with the people. Princess Zelda herself had offered him to join her personal guard, but he had thankfully refused. Nevertheless, the princess had not let him deprive her of at least proclaiming him a friend of honor of the royal family.

He felt awkward with all this attention. He would never get used to it.

Epona crossed the square in the city center with the magnificent fountain, on which the royal coat of arms of Hyrule was enthroned, and headed for the drawbridge to the castle.

A guard watched them suspiciously as they were riding through the large gate but he let them pass.

Link rose from Epona and walked her the rest of the way across the castle courtyard.

Thankfully, Link handed the reins to a young stable boy. He helped Enora dismount horse, went up the stairs to the entrance hall and stepped in front of one of the guards.

"We humbly ask for audience with her Highness, Princess Zelda."

The guard examined him briefly and recognized him. With a nod of his head the guard meant for them to follow him. Together they entered the castle.

The man walked the two up to the throne room, greeted the two guards in front of the huge double door and entered.

"My sincere apologies, your majesty. Sir Link has just arrived and asks for an audience."

"Sir Link?," the hero heard the familiar, gentle voice of the young ruler. It recalled memories of his past adventure.

He heard footsteps and in the next moment the princess appeared before him. She looked exactly as he remembered her in her white and purple dress, decorated with golden ornaments. She had her long brown hair tied into a braid, just like then.

"Such luck. I've just finished my meeting with the Royal Council."

She smiled at Link and meant to follow him with an elegant gesture.

v~v*v~v*v~v

They went into a small room, which looked as if it was the princess' study. The walls were covered with cupboards. Parchments and books were neatly piled on a magnificent desk made of dark wood, which stood in the middle of the room.

After the princess had closed the door behind them, she fell around his neck giving him a hug. She wouldn't dare to show such affection in public but in her study she felt unobserved.

"It's so good to see you again. How are you doing?" She eyed him from top to bottom. Her blue eyes shone with joy. Then she noticed Enora.

"Hello, little one. Who are you?"

"She's the reason I'm here...," Link began, but Enora interrupted him before he could proceed.

"Your Highness, I am very pleased to meet you." She bowed her head respectfully.

Puzzled by her behavior, Link looked at her in surprise. She had just switched from acting like a little child to talking to Zelda like an adult would do.

Zelda looked just as surprised.

"I found her in the forest and Ilia, a friend, took her in and called her Enora. She can't seem to remember much," Link explained briefly and Enora nodded.

"We had hoped that you could help us," he concluded after a short pause filled with silence.

Zelda looked at the girl thoughtfully.

"You're not Hylian, that's for sure, but neither Zora. Maybe you're Twili?," the princess contemplated, but Link shook his head.

Enora withstood Zelda's gaze firmly. There was something mysterious in the little girl's eyes. Something Link could not pinpoint at. Zelda and Link observed her and exchanged suggestive glances. They didn't need any words to agree that this blue-skinned girl was most bizarre.

"Could she be from another country," Link suspected.

This time it was Zelda's turn to shake her head, „I know the beings in the surrounding countries. None of them look like her."

Sadness lined Enora's features. She sighed in disappointment, „If not even her Highness knows my secret, then nobody will."

Zelda looked at her pitifully. "I'm sorry." She turned to Link. "What are you going to do next?"

Link shrugged. "Do you know anybody else who is familiar with the beings of Hyrule?"

Zelda pondered for a short time, but she couldn't think of anyone. Then Link had an idea. "But of course! Shad!" Why hadn't he thought of him much earlier?

The princess furrowed her brows for a moment. The name was familiar to her. Shad was an intelligent young man and a member of Telma's resistance fighters. He had studied the history of Hyrule extensively. Surely he would know.

"All right," she concluded. "You go to Shad, I'll take a look around the castle library. As soon as I find something, I'll send you a letter. You are always welcome at the castle. So don't hesitate to come here if you need help."

Link and Enora said goodbye and left the castle. Outside in the courtyard, Link thanked the stable boy, took the reins and walked Epona into town.

Their goal, Telma's bar, wasn't far from the castle. First to the south and then into a small alleyway.

He left Epona on the inner yard in front of the inn. He was already looking forward to a reunion with his friends.

Telma greeted him delightedly as he entered the door. She was busy wiping off a table when Link entered. She lfet the cloth at the table and warmly embraced Link.

"Well, look at that! Long time no see! What have you been doing?" she inquired enthusiastically as she let go of him.

"I'm really busy," he replied with a playful seriousness.

"Ah yes, I can see," Telma remarked with a meaningful look at his companion, who hid behind Link. "You're always busy helping people."

Link's face turned red and he looked at her in embarrassment, while Enora gazed enigmatically at the adults from behind Link's back.

Telma laughed, "You haven't changed at all."

She turned around, collected the cleaning cloth and walked behind the counter. "So tell me, what brings you here?"

"I have to talk to Shad. Where is he?" Link's gaze moved to a table in the back of the room. There his friends had always consulted each other when difficulties were imminent. It was also there where he had received important information whenever he needed guidance during his adventure. He wondered how far he would have come without the help of Ashei, Rusl, Auru and Shad.

"No, he left for Kakariko village yesterday. He said he wanted to investigate something there."

Link could not hide his disappointment.

"If it's so important, follow him. You can spend the night here and leave tomorrow," Telma suggested.

Link considered her kind offer. They properly wouldn't make it all the way to Kakariko today, soo he agreed, "Thank you very much, Telma."

"Not at all! I'll give you my best room." Telma pointed to a staircase. "I suppose you know where it is." Then her gaze shifted to Enora. "And what is your name?"

Shyly she peered up from behind Link's back where she was still hiding.

"Enora," Link replied in her place. He was surprised that the child was again behaving quite differently.

"That's a beautiful name," Telma said and bent down to the little one. Immediately the girl hid further behind Link.

"Don't be shy," Telma smiled, and turned to Link, "There's only one bed in the guest room. If you like, she can sleep in my room."

Link refused beningly, "No thanks, Telma. I feel better at the idea of her staying with me in the guest room." He didn't know why, but for now he refused to let the girl out of his sight even for a split second.

v~v*v~v*v~v

Thoughtfully Link lay in the soft bed of Telma's guest room. Enora had made herself comfortable next to him on a mat that Telma had prepared for her. Darkness enveloped them. The sun had long set.

"Link? Do you think this Shad-guy can help me?" Enora inquired after a while with a worried voice.

When she asked her question, Link flinched unintentionally. He thought she was already asleep.

"If he can't, then nobody can," he replied. "I don't know anybody who knows the creatures and history of Hyrule as well as he does.

"Hmmm," she hummed and appeared somehow sad, but she said nothing else and Link didn't want to ask either.

He was still thinking about why she had such a strange effect on him. Near her he felt safe, as if nothing could happen to him anymore. At this moment he realized that he had almost forgotten about the monsters of his nightmares. Did it have something to do with Enora? Or had he just been too busy to worry about it? He recalled the feeling he had when Enora had hugged him for the first time.

As he continued to dig into his thoughts, tiredness overcame him.


	4. Evil Premonitions

"Thank you for everything."

Link hugged Telma before he mounted Epona. Enora had already proudly taken place in the saddle and wrapped her arms around Link's waist. The sun hadn't fully risen completely yet. It merely announced the beginning of day with a bright line on the horizon. Link was in a hurry. He wanted to get to Shad as soon as possible.

"I wish you good luck!" Telma waved them goodbye and watched Link as he steered Epona out of the yard into the yet quiet main street. Only a few minutes later the mare galloped over the bridge to the east. She stretched her nostrils into the fresh morning wind.

"Is Kakariko far away?" Enora inquired.

"No, if we hurry, we should arrive early in the afternoon." The young man patted his mare on the neck with encouragement. She pricked up her ears while her big hooves flew over the ground.

The sun appeared on the horizon and cast its still weak light on the plain of Eldin as it slowly rose higher. The place used to be roamed by monsters - Bulblins riding wild boars and shooting fire arrows at oblivious travelers - but since Link's victory over Ganondorf the plain had been peaceful.

Epona's sweaty flanks reflected the sunlight. The mare chewed on her mouthpiece with relish, while her eyes were directed forward and wandered over the green grass.

The sun rose higher and higher. When it had reached its highest point, Epona slowed down into a trod.

Link didn't stop her. She deserved a break, as she was galloping for hours by now.

In the afternoon, the first roofs of Kakariko appeared on the horizon, in front of the great silhouette of Death Mountain, where the strong Goron tribe lived. Link had freed their leader from the influence of a Shadow Crystal, restoring peace between Gorons and Hylians. Without Midna's help, he would not have been able to do it.

Again his thoughts drifted away, over to the Twilight Realm where the princess lived and he wished she was here with him. She always had some advice for him and might have been able to help him out this time as well. But she was gone, in a world to which she herself had destroyed the only access. He knew she had only done so because she thought it was for the better. She wanted to save the world of light from another invasion of the twilight realm. He wanted to trust her and honor her decision, but sometimes doubts entered his mind.

"Is this Kakariko?" Enora exclaimed in astonishment, pulling him out of his thoughts. He looked about. Epona had just trotted into the village and out of habit was now heading for Renado's house to come to a stop in front of it. She nibbled peacefully on some blades of grass growing in front of the house.

Link dismounted Epona and helped Enora down before he knocked on the door of the circular house waiting for an answer.

"Do you wish to talk to me," he heard a voice right behind him. He drove around and saw Renado, the priest of Kakariko village.

Renado smiled at him. „Welcome! I haven't heard from you for quite a while! How are you?"

"Hello Renado," Link replied. "I'm fine, thanks. Is Shad here?"

The priest looked at him briefly. If he was disappointed that Link didn't get involved in a little chat, he skillfully covered it up.

"It's urgent, isn't it? Sorry to disappoint you. He moved on yesterday."

Link groaned slightly annoyed.

"He wanted to look at some locations of more of these owl statues," Renado added. "But maybe I can help you anyway?"

Link swiftly glanced at Enora, who looked at him, her eyes shining with hope, before he turned back to Renado. „Maybe."

"Come in," the priest offered and opened the door to his house.

Link thankfully accepted the offer.

Inside they sat down on two chairs directly in front of the large statue of Eldin, the Spirit of Light whose fountain was located in Kakariko. Eldin's statue spread its mighty eagle wings halfway across the room. Under his pedestal was the entrance to the catacombs, which opened when the chandeliers were lit on the wall. Down there, Link had used Shad's help to unravel the mystery of the strange owl statues. They were the guardians of a long forgotten puzzle. Solving it had opened the way to a city in the sky, which was home to strange bird creatures - called Ooccoo. The pathway was a cannon that had shot him directly into the sky. In fact, cannons as a means of transport were not unusual in Hyrule. At Lake Hylia, one of these apparatuses was even a much visited tourist attraction.

Over a cup of tea, Link tells Renado about Enora and why he was looking for Shad.

When he had finished, Renado observed the girl for a while, who visibly felt uncomfortable under his gaze and restlessly slid back and forth on her chair.

"And you can't remember a thing," he asked sympathetically.

She shook her head in silence.

Thoughtfully he stood up and walked around the room.

"Is there no way to inform this Shad-guy," Enora remarked hopefully, but duck her head when Renado turned around to meet her gaze.

"Good idea! We'll send him a letter that he should come back to you," Renado suggested. "Meanwhile you can rest here."

Hyrule's postman was a mysterious man. He appeared to be everywhere at the same time. No matter where Link had been, the letters were always delivered to him in the shortest amount of time. Link hadn't found out the secret of the man in the white romper yet.

Link nodded gratefully.

v~v*v~v*v~v

The sun had just risen above the horizon when Link set out to climb Death Mountain. He intended to visit the Goron tribe while he was stranded here until Shad replied to Renado's letter.

The Goron tribe lived in the volcano north of Kakariko. The trip was not long, but exhausting. Luckily Enora was staying with Renado at Link's behest. Link was convinced the girl wouldn't be able to make the difficult climb so easily.

Even from afar the rumbling of Gorons, who rolled down the mountain, was heard. For them it was the most enjoyable amusement, for unsuspecting travelers an unforeseeable death trap. However, Link was not aware of any case in which a traveler had actually died. He himself had already made several contacts with the hard Goron skin but, apart from a few scratches, he had always escaped unscathed.

This time, though, Link was prepared. When he saw the first Goron approaching with daring speed, he slipped into his iron boots and stopped the stone eater. The iron boots belonged to Renado and he had kindly lent them to Link for his visit, as he knew of the obstacles on the way to Death Mountain.

An angry face with wide eyes surfaced from the ball, but immediately turned into a happy smile.

"Link! Where did you come from? Good to see you!" The Goron straightened up and looked down at the young man from a height of three meters. Gorons were quite impressive. They were big. Their skin was soft at the front, but hard as stone on the back. Their main food was stones. According to them, each type of stone and gem tasted different. Even though Gorons might look scary at first, they were most likely the nicest tribe in Hyrule – albeit by far not the smartest.

"The others will be delighted to hear you come to visit." The Goron opened his arms to embrace Link, but the hero slipped past him. Today was definitely not the day to have strong Goron arms break your bones.

"Let's save it for later," the Hylian laughed hoping the Goron wasn't too offended.

"All right," the giant replied not even mad in the slightest. He offered Link to go ahead. The hero, however, with a glance to the next approaching Goron, declined the offer and let the stone eater take the lead.

As they entered Goronia, the city of the Gorons, Link was greeted cheerfully.

He remembered exactly when he came here for the very first time. The Gorons had been anything but friendly and he had to fight his way to the top of the mountain. His destination at that time had been the mine as inside remained Fyrus. Link had defeated the monster and thereby freed Darbus, the leader of the Gorons, who was possessed by a shadow crystal. Link broke the curse and brought peace back to the Goron tribe.

Darbus approached him at that moment, followed by the four Goron elders.

"Link, how nice you' re stopping by," rumbled the gigantic Goron, who towered over the others by another meter. Before he could continue his greeting, one of his companions urged himself forward.

"It's a good thing you're coming. As soon as we heard you had arrived in Kakariko, we were about to send for you," began the somewhat smaller but all the more imposing Goron.

"Would you stop that? Just let everyone greet him, Gor Coron," interrupted a second, very small one with a crooked back, who now turned himself to Link.

"Hello, big boy."

Link grinned as he looked down at the Goron Gor Amoto, who gave him part of the key to open the lock to the chamber of the possessed Darbus.

"This matter is important. We must not waste time. We have every reason for concern," said the third, a slender Goron with a dark, almost black skin. "Follow us."

With that three of the Elders turned around and went ahead. Link followed a little confused. What was going on this time?

He was followed by the last of the elders, Gor Ebizo, who had trouble keeping up the pace of the others. He angrily swung his walking stick through the air.

Link was walked directly into the mine. He had fought monsters here not too long ago, but now only the lava lake stretched out before him. It was as hot as in an oven and whenever a fountain of fire shot up the room was flooded by another wave of heat.

Gor Amoto pointed to the lava, „Do you see that? Normally it is completely calm - no fountain to be seen. But today..."

"The last time it was so turbulent, Hyrule was threatened by Ganondorf," Gor Corone interrupted his colleague." You think there will be trouble, right," Link pondered loudly. It sounded more like a statement than a question.

A shiver ran down his back as if someone had poured ice into his tunic.

Gor Ebizo nodded. „Just keep your eyes open, we'll let you know when we find out more."

"Link?" The hero turned around. A little girl stood at the entrance of the mine.

"There you are!" Pleased she hopped down to him and looked at the lava.

Right next to her a huge fountain shot up. Shocked, the Gorons took a step back. Enora stepped aside, too, away from the source of the heat. She tripped over her own feet and landed on her bottom.

"Where are you coming from, Enora?" Link looked at her in surprise. Had she climbed up here all by herself? And how did she get past the rolling Gorons?

"I was bored and wanted to have a look after you," she explained shrugging her shoulders. She watched another fountain shooting out of the lava lake. She hadn't bothered to get up from the ground yet. Wasn't it too warm for her?

"Did you tell Renado," Link inquired.

Enora shook her head and Link sighed deeply.

"Is she with you," Gor Corone asked carefully and Gor Ebizo approached Link quietly.

"I feel a strange aura about her. Watch her well and don't let her out of your sight. I don't feel comfortable with her," he whispered into the young Hylian's ear. "She seems to have tremendous powers." He trembled. A strange feeling emerged in Link's stomach.

"Let's go, Enora. Renado might be worried."

The girl nodded obediently and got on her feet. Then she followed Link out of the cave.

Throughout the whole climb down the mountain path, Link wondered what Gor Ebizo had been referring to. Was Enora no innocent girl after all? Hadn't she been to the woods by chance? Maybe Ganondorf had returned and she was his harbinger to lure Link into a deadly trap?

These and similar thoughts crossed his mind. Then he remembered the feeling he had when he was near her. She could not be wicked. Or was that part of the plan to take him out? To lull him into safety first and then strike with full force?

He shook his head to get rid of this eerie thoughts. He regretted having dropped by the Goron tribe.

What he wished for the most now was a partner to whom he could entrust everything - like Midna. Again his thoughts wandered to the princess. He just couldn't get her out of his head. The mere idea of never seeing her again made him unspeakably sad.

"What's the matter? Enora looked at him with a worried expression. "You're so quiet." Her eyes were gleaming with real concern and trust towards Link.

How could someone like her be evil?

"Oh nothing," Link replied. "I was just thinking."

Enora kept looking him in the eyes as if she knew exactly what was going on with him.

Or was she not on his side after all?

Link shook his head to get rid of the thoughts and clear his head once and for all. It didn't help.

For the first time in a while, Link didn't know what to think or who to trust, and he was reliefed they finally reached Kakariko.


	5. On to the Answer

"Link?" Renado gently knocked on the door to the guest room. He heard a soft moan, then the creaking of the wooden planks before the door opened. Link gazed up at him with a sleepy face.

"Morning," the young man murmured.

"Good news!" The priest waved a letter in front of Link's nose. "I just got a reply from Shad." Link was wide awake at once. "Yeah? Let me read it!" He whipped the letter out of Renado's hand, but before he got to read a single word written on the piece of paper, Renado started, „He says he's too busy to come here."

"Where's he right now?" Link didn't bother to read the letter anymore. Renado would surely tell him right away anyway.

"In the Gerudo Desert. He's examining the statue he discove- "

The priest broke off when Enora slid past Link and rubbed her eyes while staring at the letter.

"Letter from Shad...?" She mumbled half asleep. "Let's go then."

She yawned loudly before she slipped back into the room.

"A word of command," Link said smiling half-heartedly. He had decided not to hastily condemn her before he knew exactly what she was - but he remained cautious nevertheless.

Renado nodded and went down the stairs. "I'll pack you something for lunch. You know the fastest way to get to the desert, don't you?" he yelled out of the kitchen.

Link flinched. He wouldn't forget THAT for sure. He had been shot through the air often enough. If Midna was here, she could have teleported him. That wasn't very pleasant, neither, but still better than flying uncontrollably through the air. He forced his thoughts back to the present and went into his sleeping room to put on his tunic.

Enora was already standing all ready next to the door. A happy smile adorned her face, though, that was quite understandable. There was new hope that she could find out her true identity.

"It's hot in the desert," the girl laughed, leaving the room and jumping down the stairs.

When Link followed her, she stood next to Renado and watched him make a knot in a cloth wrapped around some cheese and bread.

"This is for you," he explained to Enora and handed her the bundle. He touched her hand just a little and immediately flinched back. The cloth with the food fell to the floor.

"Sorry," Enora mumbled immediately, grabbed the bundle and rushed out of the room.

Questioningly Link looked after her, wondering once more whether she might be... 'No,' he thought definitely to convince himself that she's not threat.

"A strange child, don't you think?" Renado positioned himself next to him.

Link nodded without further ado.

"In case something abnormal happens, you can always come back here. "

Goose bumps spread on Link's arms. Renado's good-natured offer had exactly the opposite effect on the Ordonian as the priest probably intended...

"Thank you, Renado," Link said politely, hiding his insecurity. "I owe you one"

"Nonsense! One hand washes the other, right?"

Link nodded sympathetically. He left the house and whistled after his horse.

The mare immediately approached and stretched her nostrils into Link's face to greet him. The hairs on her nostrils tickled his nose and he gently pushed her away with a smile.

He petted her neck briefly and signaled Enora to come over. The girl climbed Epona's back in a cheerful mood.

Meanwhile Link wasn't surprised anymore about her strange nature.

"How far is it," Enora inquired as they passed through the village's gate to the plains.

"If we ride the whole day and have only short breaks we will be at Lake Hylia by nightfall. We'll spend the night there and leave for the desert tomorrow," Link replied.

"That far?"

Despondency was resonating in her voice.

"And then we quickly find Shad and he'll help us," she added more confidently.

Link did not answer. It was still not sure whether he could really help them. The Hylian rather had the feeling that even Shad wouldn't know what to do.

Epona brought him back to reality when she unexpectedly took a leap to the side. A large shadow glided over the path in front of them. When Link looked to the sky to find out what had caused it, he spotted nothing off the ordinary.

Bewildered, he turned to Epona, who galloped peacefully again.

'You're imagining it all,' he explained to himself to calm him down, as they moved closer to Lake Hylia with every step Epona took.

v~v*v~v*v~v

By the time the moon rose, they had reached Lake Hylia and set up camp for the night. Enora and Link lay cuddled in blankets around an extinct fireplace. Epona stood nearby by the shore and dozed.

None of them noticed the golden glow that scurried across the water in the middle of the night and the gentle wind that ruffled the lake's surface.

A howl resounded as a golden wolf emerged. He glanced at the mare, who didn't show any sign she had noticed him, before he approached the fireplace.

Before he could come close to the young Hylian slumbering peacefully, a soft squeal was heard and he looked up in surprise. His face was lit by moonlight. One half was traversed by a large had caused it had rendered his eye blind forever. The other half of the face was untainted and beautiful. It showed an unscathed blood-red eye, with which he scanned the surrounding rocks.

A silver-white glow indicated that he wasn't alone. He turned away from the people asleep.

His mouth turned into a smile, showing his fangs, while he turned around, walked off towards the shore and disappeared into thin air with a twitch its tail.

At this very moment, Link gasped. He had a strange feeling in his stomach. His heart was beating rapidly. Had he had a nightmare? He paused briefly and made efforts to recall his dreams. It didn't work. It was all gone. With a glimpse to the sleeping Enora he slipped out of his blanket and walked to the water.

He settled down next to his mare. She felt his presence, pricked up her ears and eventually bent her head towards him.

Link rubbed her soft nostrils and felt her warm, wet breath in his neck.

She snorted at him soothingly, without opening her eyes, enjoying his company.

Link was wide awake now. Falling asleep was out of the question. A quick glance at the moon told him that the night was almost over anyway.

A wind was blowing from the west, carrying the smells and warm air of the desert.

Link closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the water and the cry of the owls.

It was as if just a few minutes had passed when someone touched his shoulder. Enora settled down beside him.

"Good morning," she said in a good mood. "Are we going to Shad today?"

Link nodded and pointed to the house that was built on a raft in the middle of the lake. "As soon as Tobi opens his shop. We have to use his cannon."

"Great! I'll check it out," the blue-skinned girl exclaimed, as she leapt to her feet and hurried off towards the jetty leading to the house.

Link stretched himself before he stood up to clear the camp and stow everything in the saddle bags. This time he would take the mare with him - for the first time ever. The monsters in the desert had disappeared and the mare was safe enough there. On the way back they would take the path over the cliffs surrounding the desert, as there was no other way back. Tobi could only shoot them into the desert, but not back again.

As he walked the mare across the footbridge she skipped left and right, frightened by the wobbly ground beneath her hooves. Enora met them halfway across the jetty. She waved her arms and bounced up and down, making the wobbling even worse. Link reassured Epona by petting her neck.

"Come on! Hurry up! He just opened," Enora yelled excitedly.

Link grinned and waved at Tobi, who had just climbed out of the cannon and double-checked every inch of the machinery.

"Morning, long time no see," Tobi said without looking up from his work.

"Can you send us to the desert," Link inquired and drew a pouch of rupees from his pocket.

Tobi pulled his hand out of a colorful box and wiped it off with a cloth, which he then threw over his shoulder before finally turning around to look at the pouch.

He was still wearing the wide, brightly colored clothes and the make-up on his face from the time when he was with the circus. His facial expression hadn't changed a bit since the last time they met, for he was still pursing his mouth, which was quite atypical for a clown but made him look even more hilarious.

"Are you able to pay," Tobi replied in a business-like manner and eyed Epona. "The horse doesn't have to go, does it?"

"Yes, yes, yes," Enora cheered and hopped around the former circus clown.

"But that's an extra charge and my cannon stays clean, you hear me," he said sternly, accepting the rupees that Link held out for him, and signalling them to enter the cannon.

With a bang, he slammed the door behind them.

"We're about to fly any moment," Enora sang and clapped her hands with excitement.

"Calm down, it's not that great," Link replied and held on to Epona, who pranced anxiously.

A shudder went through the room, followed by another loud bang that send them flying through the air.

Epona thrashed her legs and whinnied in horror. Link couldn't suppress a chuckle. She almost looked like a Pegasus, but far from graceful and without any wings.

Enora was petrified in her movements and gazed in wonder at the land that passed underneath them. Unlike Epona, the cape hovering from her shoulders looked like she had wings.

They arrived in the desert faster than they expected. The landing was surprisingly smooth and Link wondered every time how that was possible. Even though it would have not appeared like it, traveling by canon was completely safe.

"Wow! Let's do it one more time," Enora cheered and jumped into the air.

Epona rolled her eyes and fell to the ground, causing a cloud of dust puffing out under her strong body. Her tongue hung in the sand and she was still kicking her legs.

"Come on! It wasn't that horrible at all," Link said encouragingly, rubbing her nostrils and gently pulling the reins.

Epona shook her head before she got back onto her hooves and spat out the sand that had stuck to her tongue. She snorted offended as Link soothed her and brushed the sand off her back.

"Let's look out for Shad. He should be somewhere back there," Link said, shielding his eyes from the sun with one hand and pointing west with the other. A small ruin was visible in the distance.

Enora swung onto Epona and the mare trotted off, while Link walked alongside her. The sand was definitely too soft and could never have carried Epona's, Enora's and Link's weight all at once. They were much faster this way.

Link remembered the owl statue that stood on a small plateau in the middle of the desert. It was his goal once more.

The sun rose higher and higher and blasted its rays onto the sand. It got hotter with every minute and they all breathed a sigh of relief as the rocks that marked the plateau finally came into view.

When they were only a few hundred meters away, a man came running towards them, waving his arms. His fiery red hair was combed neatly back and on his nose sat a pair of glasses. He was wearing a vest under a dark purple jacket. His checkered socks reached all the way up to his brown knee-length trousers. Clearly he was inappropriately dressed for the hot desert sun and Link got even warmer at the sight.

"Link! I knew you would come immediately," Shad said when he reached her. "Glad to see you."

"Me too," Link nodded, shaking Shad's hand to greet him and then pointing to Enora. "And that's..."

"...your little problem," Shad finished the sentence and adjusted his glasses before curiously eyeing Enora.

"Very interesting," he said.

"It's hot," Enora complained.

"Oh right, sorry. Please come in my tent," Shad finally invited her and walked her to the plateau, near which a tent was set up. It was surprisingly cool inside and big enough to accommodate even Epona. Satisfied, the mare sat down on the sandy ground and drank the water Shad put down for her in a bowl.

"Let's have a look then," he said, rummaging about box. He pulled out a book with ancient Hylian writing.

Immediately he began to flip wildly through its pages, while Enora and Link were sitting at a table waiting for him to finish. Enora played with her glass full with water and shifted restlessly back and forth on her seat.

"When is he going to say something," she whispered over and over again and watched the red-haired Hylian, who was busy running back and forth, paging through one book after another, mumbling, slamming them shut and setting them aside. In between, he kept throwing surreptitious glances at Enora.

"That's weird," he finally said.

"Did you find something," Link asked.

Shad shut the book he was holding in his hand and shook his head, „Nothing! She doesn't seem to be one of any of the known races."

Enora looked at Shad in disappointment.

Immediately his features became smooth as silk, „Don't be sad! Here, look at this!"

He opened the book with the ancient Hylian symbols again and flipped through it for a moment before putting it on the table.

The open page featured the Triforce surrounded by four women. Three of them wore elaborately embroidered costumes, each in a different color - red, blue and green. The fourth one was different, however. Her image was dark and blurred, nothing more but a vague silhouette.

Link took a quick look at the page and then glanced expectantly at Shad.

The red-haired man fetched a chair and sat down next to him.

"Din, Nayru and Farore," Enora said. "The Goddesses of Hyrule." Her gaze scurried over the three detailed women before it clung to the blurred silhouette of the fourth.

Shad gave a nod.

"This book tells us about the legends of Hyrule. You must have heard something about the fairy queen," Shad inquired and tapped on the fourth woman. Link nodded and Shad continued, „She is omniscient and is sure to tell you what you want to know... that is... if you can find her."

"Where is she?" Link inquired.

"Unfortunately she's unattainable. She resides deep down in a cave here in the Gerudo desert."

Link looked up. He only knew one deep cave in the desert and it made his blood freeze in his veins. "The Cave of Ordeals?"

Shad nodded.


	6. A Desert Full of Memories

"You're really recommending us to go to the Cave of Ordeals?" Link shook his head in disbelief. "Have you forgotten that Mid..." He bit his own tongue. "The entrance is sealed," he finally finished his sentence.

"Of course it won't be easy, but you seem to care a lot about her identity," Shad replied and nodded at Enora, who was rocking on her chair, obviously daydreaming as she was silently humming a melody. The tune sounded extremely familiar to Link, but he had other things to worry about and didn't bother to focus on it any longer.

When the blue-skinned girl noticed the men's gazes, she fell silent and looked shyly back at them.

"Is there no other fairy queen we might ask," Link remarked hopefully.

"I only know of this one, but you're welcome to ask Auru."

Link sighed, "Let me guess, he's in the Zora's Domain to find a secret way into the desert?"

Shad looked at him incomprehensively, "Why should he be in Zora's domain?"

"Just my luck," Link mumbled and rolled his eyes. If things went on like this, he would soon have made a complete round trip through all of Hyrule.

"He's here in the desert. He wanted to take a look around now that all the monsters are gone. I actually only accompanied him to complete my research on the statues."

"What luck, huh?" Enora joined the two and beamed at them. "Come on, Link! Let's go!" She tugged at his tunic and maneuvered him towards Epona. The mare was standing next to the entrance and hit her tail against the wall of the tent while listening to the dull knocking sound that came from it.

"It's worth a try," Shad confirmed, and Enora gave him a smile. "He went westwards."

"Allright." Link gave in, went to Epona and woke her from her trance with a friendly pat. "Come on girl," he mumbled into her ear and walked her out of the tent. It had become surprisingly cold outside. The sun descended towards the horizon. He hadn't even noticed how quickly time had passed.

A cool breeze whirled up the still hot sand and blew it against the tent wall.

Enora climbed on the horse's back while Link walked Epona away from the camp.

"Good luck! And take care of yourselves!" Shad stood in the entrance to the tent, holding the book in his hands, as he watched the two travelers leave. He then turned around and headed for the plateau to continue his research.

"Shad is an OK guy," Enora said and ran her fingers through Epona's mane.

Link didn't pay attention to her. He closed his eyes to focus and went through the map of the Gerudo Desert in his mind.

He doubted they would find Auru soon. At least they had managed to leave before Shad took the chance to bombard him with questions.

The young researcher suspected that Link had more knowledge about the owl statues than anyone else and was dying to know everything. So far Link had always been able to avoid his questions, but he knew that Shad would come back to the subject sooner or later.

The Ordonian had concerns about what might happen if the truth became public. The statues hid the secret on how to reach the City in the Sky. It was a fascinating place as it was. No one should change that. For that he even accepted a freezing cold night in the desert.

The sun had vanished halfway behind the cliffs surrounding the desert yet no sign of Auru so far.

Link pulled his tunic's collar up to his chin. The wind had picked up and blew sand into their faces. Enora didn't seem to mind it much. She sat contentedly on Epona's back and moved along with the horse's movements as if she had been horseback riding all her life long.

The color of the sourrounding sand slowly turned golden before the sun vanished completely and the coldness spread like a snake. It crawled over the sand and through the bodies of the travelers - at any sacrifice.

Link shivered. Auru had surely returned to the camp long ago. What would he want in the desert so late anyway?

Just as Link was about to stop to set up camp for the night, something brightened up the sky. It wasn't the moon that stood full in the firmament sending its light to the earth - it was something else.

Link lifted his head as a white and silver something glided through the sky like a shooting star and hit the sand well in front of them.

"Did you see that?" Enora screamed excitedly and Epona also pricked up her ears and stared at the spot where it must have landed on the ground.

Link nodded.

"Let's have a look," Enora said and slammed her heels into the mare's flanks.

The horse broke away from Link's control, ripping the reins out of his freezing fingers, as it dashed forward, whirling up a cloud of dust behind them.

"Wait!" The young Hylian had no choice but to run after them.

The mare leaped over a large rift that ran through the middle of the desert and galloped directly towards a gigantic rock that rose out of the sand in front of them.

Link came to a halt right in front of the rift. His eyes moved to the sky. Once there was a portal through which Midna had brought him into the desert and just below... he gulped.

There was the labyrinth of the Cave of Ordeals, which contained countless monsters. He remembered it only too well.

Before Midna returned to the shadow realm, she and Zelda had sealed all monsters still roaming Hyrule into the cave and sealed the entrance with a stone reinforced by a spell. No one would ever get out there again - or in.

When he realized that he was still standing at the edge of the gorge, completely lost in thoughts, he hastily looked around. Epona and Enora were nowhere to be found. Panic rose within him. What if something had happened to them?

He hurried around the rift and towards the rocks when he discovered Enora waving to him from its top. Epona stood far below her in the sand and looked excitedly up at the girl.

"Hurry," Enora shouted.

Link gasped for air. He wasn't used to such stress anymore.

Enora seemed to have discovered something - something important - at the Cave of Ordeals.

The only thing that came into his mind was that the seal was broken. On the other hand, how would Enora know what the seal looked like?

He climbed up the rock as fast as he could.

Even before he could glimpse over the edge, he heard another person's painful moan.

Enora helped him up the final ledge.

Directly in front of Link was the entrance to the Cave of Ordeals, which was blocked with a stone and, thus, was almost completely invisibly lining up with the surface of the surrounding rock. Auru knelt next to the stone and was tugging at something that was stuck in a small gap between the rock and the stone.

"Auru?"

The man turned around. His yellow-white jumpsuit was stained with sweat and sand. The old man had gotten rid of his brown gloves. They lay half buried next to him in the sand. His grey beard looked dull and stood off in all directions and his eyes clearly showed the exhaustion of the day.

"Link? I'm so glad you're here!" Auru lost his balance and landed on his bottom. Finally Link realized that Auru had been tugging on his foot the whole time, which was stuck in a small gap in the rock.

"How did you manage to do that," Link inquired in bewilderment. From his point of view, the gap was far too small for even one hand to fit in.

"I have no idea. It happened so quickly. I tripped and have been stuck here ever since," Auru grumbled angrily and wearily, which was not surprising due to the desert's temperatures. First burning heat, then icy frost, with no place to protect yourself...

Link nodded and carefully tried to pull the foot out.

Enora watched him from some distance

After several attempts, Link let go of Auru, who was whimpering in pain.

"Maybe you have to conjure away the rock," she finally suggested.

"Really? And how would you do that?" Link replied dryly.

"Like this," she beamed and stepped next to the rock.

Link felt an uneasy feeling in his stomach, but before he could stop her, she touched the stone and a huge crack erupted.

"Dammit," Link cursed. He pulled out Auru's leg, which was easy now due to the crack, and grabbed the man to jump with him from the rock to safety.

Not a second too early. Just as he landed with his feet on the sandy ground, the plate above the entrance of the cave burst open. Rocks rushed through the air and over their heads before landing in the sand a few meters from their position.

Enora cried out in horror. She stood in front of the entrance, frozen, feeling the cold breath and the angry glances from inside the cave.

Only seconds later a flood of dark shadows roared into the sky. Like lava and ash during a volcanic eruption, they spread in all directions.

Link drew his sword from its sheath as some of the shadows gathered around him. Auru, who sat on the ground fatigued, gazed around anxiously.

The shadows slowly transformed into blurred silhouettes of monsters. They snatched at the men. Link struggled to keep them at bay.

"Enora! What have you done?!" he shouted to the girl who looked down at him from the edge of the rock, her eyes wide open in shock.

The doubts he had been trying to suppress all this time came back to Link. Was Enora a dark creature that was supposed to bring disaster to Hyrule after all?

The young Hylian swung his sword and struck one of the shadows. It didn't do much good. His opponent reassembled at the cuts as if nothing had happened.

„Dammit." Link clenched his teeth. What was he supposed to do?

Shooed up by a chirp, the shadows turned around and rushed into the sky before dashing away collectively.

Silence returned once more. Only the stirred sand testified about the monsters that had just raged here.

Link sighed in relief. They were safe for now.

"Link?" Intimidated, Enora jumped down the rock and landed next to him.

"I...," she began, but then stopped abruptly when she saw Link's face. He looked at her with a mixture of anger and disbelief.

_"... conjure away the rock..." "...Like this..."_

Her words shot through his head. At that moment realization struck him. She knew about her powers!

"Why did you do that?"

She took a step back, but Link grabbed her by the shoulders.

_"... conjure away..." "...Like this..."_

"Why did you set those monsters free?"

Terrified, she shook her head, „I didn't know..."

"What?! That the stone seals thousands of creatures that once attacked Hyrule? Sometimes you know things, sometimes you don't. This very detail has slipped your mind?! Are you trying to fool me?! Why didn't you tell me about your magical powers?!"

He was furious, but Enora was sure that there was a spark of fear in his eyes and that's why he reacted so outraged.

Nevertheless, she ducked her head.

"It wasn't on purpose," she murmured meekly reaching for his arm.

Link pushed her away. She stumbled awkwardly into the sand.

"Who or what are you?"

He stared at her for a brief moment. Then he turned around and helped Auru to climb on Epona's back, who had just arrived and was checking on him with her ears pricked up. "She will take you to Shad. We'll catch up later," he said to the injured Hylian, his voice still enraged.

"Did you copy that, Epona? Bring him to Shad," he whispered into her ear. She turned her head and looked at him with her intelligent eyes. Then he gave his mare a clap on the croup. With a snort she dashed away.

Then he wordlessly turned around to face Enora. She hoped he would say something but he didn't. In utter silence he climbed up the rock. The cave was open again. There was nothing left of the stone that had once sealed it. Link stared into the darkness and heard Enora climb the rock behind him.

"And here I thought you could help me overcome my fear," he muttered, but didn't turn around. He entered the cave without giving her another look.

Even though the whole situation was serious, he had to admit that the way to the fairy queen was now clear at least.

Enora watched him until the darkness had swallowed him up. With an anxious look she eyed what she had done. Why did she have such powers? Was she perhaps an evil being after all?

She didn't want it to be true but the words of the Gorons had burned themselves into her memory like fire into dry wood.

"No, I am not evil', she murmured resolutely. "Even if I am, I will change."

With this very thought, she followed Link. The answer was down there, somewhere in the depths of the Cave of Ordeals.

* * *

Hello everyone,

Have a new chapter already. I'll try to do weekly uploads for a while.

I'm incredibly busy with work. Luckily, Christmas break is right around the corner. Let's see how much I can relax during those two weeks. I've taken some days off to calm down but I have a lot of deadlines in January so I might have to work during Christmas. Not looking forward to it.

I don't think it'll have any implications on my uploads here other than I might forget to upload. So I can't promise chapters will be released on a specific day in the week.

I also noticed fanfiction-net is ignoring some of my line breaks to section some parts of the story...so I'll go back and fix that right away.

Also thank you very much for your kind reviews so far. I'm glad you like the story. I tried to reply to all of them but I'm not sure if fanfic-net sent out the messages (I'm still trying to get a hang of this website).

I hope you have a good time :)

~ Freiha

Edit: Reupload because I made a mistake. I also think I've fixed the line break issue. If anybody knows how to have clean line breaks please let me know :/


	7. Deep Underneath the Sands

Each of his footsteps echoed on the cold, bare walls. The light of his torch danced over the stones and made them appear in a reddish tone.

Link hadn't encountered any monster or creature yet, not even the smallest rat. He was all alone in this cave at the moment, except for the fairy queen, who hopefully lived somewhere down there, and Enora, who - as Link noticed after a peek over his shoulder - followed him quietly in some distance.

Helping Enora had become secondary for the young man from the moment the shadows had broken out of the cave. His main priority was to find a way to recapture the creatures - and the queen might be able to help him.

They continued to descend into the cave. Link heard Enora sighing behind him from time to time, but he chose to ignore it.

Finally he reached the end of the cave - a hexagonal room. It wasn't his first time down here. He had already fought his way to this very point once before. At that time he found a great fairy here who had granted him a wish, but now she had disappeared - her well had dried up and large cracks traversed it.

Nothing was left of its former glory.

There was no sign of a fairy queen.

Link was about to turn back in disappointment and leave the cave when he paused in his tracks. Was there a shimmer over there?

He moved his head slightly - indeed!

There, in the furthest corner of the room, was a sign on the wall that was glowing dully in the flickering flame of his torch.

He crossed the room and stopped in front of the barren wall.

Curiously he drove his fingers over it to remove the dust and decipher the writing.

"To see the right path in the dark,

prove your worth with the holy mark."

Next to it was an image of a fairy holding a triangle in her hands. The triangle consisted of three smaller triangles touching each other at the corners.

"The Triforce," Link murmured. He lifted his left hand, took off his glove and stared at the back of his hand. The triangles, which had been there since his birth and which marked him as the Chosen One, as the Keeper of the Triforce of Courage, were clearly visible on his skin.

When he first entered the shadow realm, the Triforce protected him by transforming him into a wolf so he wouldn't have to roam the land as a disembodied soul. This was the only way he had been able to defeat the shadow insects to collect the Tears of Light which expelled the darkness from the land of Hyrule. At that time, he had learned about the power residing within him. A proof to himself, that the mark was more than just a mere scar.

He hesitantly held up his hand before finally pressing the palm against the stone wall.

The symbol on the back of his hand prickled and flashed in a golden light that poured between his fingers onto the wall like water. It filled the joints between the stones. Alarmed, Link dropped the torch and pulled his hand away, but it was stuck to the wall.

With his eyes wide open, he watched the lines of light within the joints closing around more and more stones. Then they lit up in a dazzling glow, and Link - finally able to free his hand - stumbled backwards as the stones separated and piled up on both sides by themselves until a passageway had formed.

Holding his breath, he looked at his hand. It still looked exactly the same as before, only the back was still tingling a little. Quickly he bent down for his torch and entered the dark passage that had opened in front of him.

It went into a large circular room in which countless small winged balls of light buzzed about. Fairies!

They circled the Hylian as he entered the room and fluttered all around him, each dragging a trail of glittering fairy dust behind them.

In the middle of the room was a large fountain.

The fairies scattered as Enora entered the room before they returned and gathered around the girl.

Link watched the scene for a brief moment before approaching the well.

The green tiles shimmered through the crystal-clear water. A large cloud of fairy dust floated above it, covering the water surface with glittering sparkles. Link knew immediately that there was a fairy hiding inside. Perhaps the Queen?

As he stepped to the rim of the fountain, the fairies sizzled apart again but this time they collected around the dust. They performed some kind of dance all around the glittering mist. A dazzling light filled the room. When it had vanished, a beautiful fairy hovered in front of Link. She wore a long dress, made of gossamer fabric, which floated about her slender, pale limbs like gusts of wind. Her long green hair curled over her shoulders and her eyes sat like two green shimmering emeralds in her beautiful face. Four long curved wings grew out of her back. Their tips almost touched the surface of the water.

The room was traversed by a bright aura, as though of thousands of small invisible threads.

Awestruck, Link took a step back and fell on his knees to bow reverently. She slowly floated towards him. Her wings beat so fast that they were only a blur but no sound was heard from them.

She slowly moved her seamless, slightly pink lips.

"Link, Chosen One and Hero of Hyrule." Gently, she put one hand on his shoulder and he lifted his head. "I was expecting you."

For a moment she glanced at Enora.

The girl leapt forward and knelt down next to Link. Almost pleadingly she looked up at the queen, but the fairy turned to Link once more.

"Hyrule is in great danger," she said with her soft voice. "The creatures of the Cave of Ordeals have once again scattered across the land of the Goddesses. However, I fear this is not the only reason as to why you are here..." She gazed down at Enora.

The girl looked nervously at Link. He gave her a slight nod, barely noticable.

"Can you tell me who I am?" Enora's big round eyes reflected the glittering fairy dust that was rising from the queen's wings.

The fairy nodded and the girl joyfully jumped to her feet, but her delight was dampened as the fairy raised her hand.

"But I can't tell you for your own sake." She smiled wearily.

"Link." The hero flinched, for the fairy's voice had become serious. "The enemy is strong. Stronger than ever before and to defeat them you need allies. Strong allies."

Out of nowhere thousands of little fairies appeared and circled the Ordonian.

"Enora - as you call her - will accompany you. Only together can you accomplish your task and save Hyrule."

The queen raised her hand and ran it across Link's head. Her palm emitted a warm light.

"Hero Link, you must put your past behind you! Everything that's happened is over and won't come back. Clear your thoughts of all memories that will hinder you in your task. You must concentrate on the things to come."

A flood of images shot through Link's mind and dissolved into nothingness - images of memories that seemed so unreal.

As in a distance he heard the voice of the fairy. "Go and seek the Daughter of the Goddesses". Her green eyes flashed as if through a silken curtain as everything around him was swallowed by shining pure light.

v~v*v~v*v~v

His head throbbed and he opened his eyes. He was lying in a tent. That was the only thing he could see through his blurred vision.

Something blue shoved itself into his vision.

"He's coming to himself," a familiar voice muttered.

He moaned, straightened up and recognized Enora, who scrutinized him with a worried expression. Behind her sat Shad and Auru, who had apparently recovered. In a corner next to the exit of the tent stood Epona and looked over at him with her ears pricked.

"Are you alright," Auru inquired worriedly and limped to Link's bed.

"Yes, I'm fine," Link replied, ignoring his headache.

"How did I get here? I can't remember anything."

"Enora brought you here," Shad explained, looking at the girl who nodded proudly.

"The fairy teleported us out of the cave and you didn't wake up. I was so worried," she explained briefly. "Luckily Epona came back and helped me." Enora hopped over to the mare and caressed the horse's nostrils. The mare nibbled on the girl's shoulder in a friendly manner.

Link moaned, let himself fall back into the sheets and closed his eyes tightly as he struggled to remember what the fairy queen had said to him.

_'Go find the Daughter of the Goddesses'_

"You were with the queen. Does this mean the Cave of Ordeals was reopened?" Shad inquired, pulling Link out of his attempts to collect his thoughts. "Auru mentioned something along the lines." Shad looked at the older man, who nodded in agreement, though, a little unnerved. Shad had presumably not believed him, but attributed the terrible news to a sunstroke or so. Or a mirage. Link couldn't blame him. He himself wished it had all been an illusion.

"The Cave of Ordeals has indeed be opened and the monsters are free," Link finally confirmed Shad's apprehension.

"It was..." The Ordonian looked at Enora, who stared fearfully back at him. "...an accident."

"Did you find out who..." Shad nodded his head in Enora's general direction.

"No, unfortunately not. But the queen mentioned a Daughter of the Goddesses."

Link hoisted himself up and left the bed. He reached for his tunic that was on a chair next to his bed and put it on.

"Daughter? What daugther?" Auru wondered.

"I have no idea," Link murmured. "In any case, we have to find her soon before Hyrule is in serious danger." Hyrule was most likely already in serious danger, but he didn't want to meet trouble halfway.

"You mean like half a year ago?" Auru shuddered at the thought of the past events.

Link nodded. Then he turned to Epona and Enora.

"We have to go. Who knows where this Daughter is hiding."

"Where are you going to?" Shad quickly called after him before Link could leave the tent.

"To the castle. Princess Zelda should be informed about this," Link stated briefly, leading Epona out of the tent with Enora already sitting on her back. "Thank you for your hospitality."

With these words he turned around and disappeared to the north, where the passage to Lake Hylia was.

"Hey Link! If you need help...you can drop by anytime! At Telma's," Shad shouted after him. Enora turned around and waved them goodbye. Link only held up his left hand to indicate he had heard. Shortly afterwards the travelers had disappeared behind the dunes.

* * *

Hi everyone!

fanfiction_net ist still keeping me on my toes. I feel like I have to format all my word documents in a specific way to have it display the text exactly like I want it to. *faint* I hope I won't forget about it next time I upload.

So Link and Enora did not find out any helpful information. Who could that mysterious Daughter of the Goddesses be?

Let's see if we'll find out next week :)

Christmas is right around the corner. Right now I'm already at my vacation. Still have to work a little more as I have lots of experiments running and they take some time and Christmas is actually the perfect time to have them going. :) Hopefully they'll be all done soon.

*mumbles on some self-made Christmas cookies*

So enjoy this chapter and merry Christmas everyone!

~Freiha


	8. Invisible

As he was slowly trudging through the sand, he felt the cold spread inside of him - unstoppably.

It could have been a wonderful evening including a calming orange-red sunset, but something was wrong. His gaze wandered to the sky, which had taken on an uncanny shade of grey - or did he just imagine it?

The cliffs piled up threateningly in front of them. Somewhere behind them, just visible over their pointed tips, in some distance one could see the glittering water of Lake Hylia that stretched out in its small valley. Only a tiny crevice in the cliffs showed them where the path to the lake was - and they headed straight for it.

"Do you think we'll find that Daughter? I mean, it could be any woman and there are so maaaaaaaaaaaany of them," Enora remarked and stretched out her arms.

"Nah! I bet she has special abilities, so we'll go to Zelda first. She feels something like that and her knowledge of Hyrule will certainly help us," Link said half-heartedly, but didn't believe any of his words. After all, Zelda didn't know anything about Enora either. Something told him they were on the wrong trail. It was like a little bell ringing deep inside his mind, but he couldn't quite heed the sound.

"Hey Link?" The young man looked up at the girl. She had laid her hands on Epona's crest and looked shyly down to him.

"The Fairy Queen said I was your partner...that means I...well...can't be wicked, can I?" She stared into his blue eyes. "I mean...," she quickly continued before he could answer. "...you are a good guy and we're a team, so..."

The young man couldn't help but smile. He quickly regained his serious countenance, though. "I don't know what or who you are and neither do I know why you have these powers, but one thing I do know: you are certainly not wicked."

He did not know why he said that. The words just gushed out of him and somehow he felt that each of them was true. Why should the fairy queen choose a wicked being as his partner?

"Don't worry...," he said. "...we will unveil the mystery." He looked her with a reassuring glance.

Hesitantly, her mouth also turned into a timid smile.

"I'm still sorry about the stone at the Cave of Ordeals," she spoke with a hushed voice.

Link felt a sting. That stone! Immediately his thoughts drifted off into nothingness, where memories should have been.

Somebody had something to do with the stone...someone he couldn't remember, although he felt he should. His memories were hidden among a impenetrable sheet. They were there - he knew it. They were right in front of his nose, but he couldn't grasp them. And he had the feeling that he betrayed the person he was trying so hard to remember but couldn't.

What was wrong with him? Did the Fairy Queen have something to do with it?

"We will fix it," he promised and finally earned an honest and hopeful smile from Enora.

An ice-cold gust pulled him out of their conversation. They had reached the cliffs. The wind whistled through the narrow gap and Link ducked his head to protect himself from the cold as they entered the gorge.

Although the sun hadn't fully vanished yet, it was already pitch dark down here. One could barely see a hand in front of their face.

Link lit a torch, but the wind immediately blew it out and so they continued their way without any light source.

Soon the first stars were shining on the clear night sky and Link decided to take a short break so that Epona could rest.

They had finally left the desert behind and the Ordonian was sure they would have had the perfect view at Lake Hylia if the path through the gorge wasn't that curvy.

Contentedly snorting Epona nibbled at a few blades of grass that grew occasionally between the rocks. She hadn't found anything to eat in the desert, so she was more than grateful for this sparse meal.

Link leaned against a rock and Enora sat next to him. She didn't seem to mind the cold much and she didn't show any signs of tiredness, neither.

The cry of a wolf resonated from somewhere far away. Link lifted his head in surprise. Wolves? Here in Hyrule? Apart from himself he had never seen a wolf here...had he? There were snow wolves in the mountains. But what were they doing here, so far away from any ice and snow?

When he let his gaze slide over the jagged walls all the way up to the edge of the gorge, Epona nudged him amicably. As calm as she was right now, there couldn't be any danger nearby.

Link swung onto her back, helped Enora to climb the horse behind him and urged the mare to continue their journey. She immediately fell into a smooth gallop. The wind carried the smell of juicy grass with it and lured the mare towards the lake.

Her mane fluttered in the wind as she took bend after bend. Then, as they saw the glistening water in front of them, she pushed her hooves into the ground, abruptly slowing them down so that Link was thrown over her neck. Even though surprised by the sharp stop, both his hands instinctively grabbed her mane. Enora was still clinging to his waist. He felt her weight pulling him down. Beneath them was nothing but emptiness.

Although the moon wasn't full in size it provided enough light to give a glimpse of the surroundings.

Below them it went steeply downhill. There was no chance to get down there - at least not in one piece. The path down to the lake was gone.

Epona raised her head and stepped back to slowly lift Link back up the cliff.

The gentle waves of the lake washed the rocks rising out of the water like thorns beneath them.

Link swallowed. That was a close one!

He sighed in relief once he felt solid ground under his feet again.

How should they get down there?

Next to him, Enora pointed to a narrow slope that went along the cliff next to them. "This is how we get down," she said and was about to head for it when Epona whinnied indignantly.

She wasn't going to make a move. The path was way too narrow to support her big hooves.

Link shook his head and kicked away a pebble. It rolled over the edge of the ledge and...

...did not fall. Curiously, Link approached the spot. He bent down to grab the pebble but instead he bumped his fingers against a surface.

Was there an invisible path? He had never seen anything strange like this before - or at least he couldn't remember.

"We should go that way," he said, hoping that the path would go downwards. To be on the safe side, he collected a few more pebbles before carefully walking Epona into mid air. She bucked a little, but finally let herself be dragged along.

Slowly, step by step, they moved forward. Link kept throwing pebbles in front of him to check for the path.

Enora followed him, always looking at the water far beneath them in amazement.

Gradually they came closer - bit by bit further down.

A terrible cry tore through the silence of the night. Link froze.

In the distance a huge birdlike creature emerged from the water. It had two small heads connected to a strong body by long thin necks. More could not be made out.

It shrieked once again, it's cry ringing in Link's ears. With a powerful beat of its mighty wings it headed towards the group, who was still hovering in midair.

"Run!" Link exclaimed. His warning wasn't necessary, as Epona was already dashing past him in horror. Enora followed her.

"Wait! Watch out for the path!" It was too late. The horse and girl were already plummeting.

Link spun around as the bird banged against the platform he was standing on - at least that's how it felt like due to the trembling of the path. His foot stepped into emptiness. He stumbled backwards and fell.

The enemy had withdrawn from the platform and glided towards the young Hylian. He drew his sword while in free fall and struck at one of the attacker's heads.

The creature dodged the blow, described a curve in midair, and hurled itself at Link once again.

This was the moment the Hylian splashed into the water. The collision pressed all air out of his lungs. His sword slipped out of his hand as he struggled to return to the surface.

He resurfaced and gaped for air. As he lifted his head, he spotted the bird right above him, in the middle of a swoop.

Link closed his eyes.

He heard something darting out of the water next to him. Hesitantly, he got an eyeful and witnessed something leaping at the bird. It looked like a human being, but had something growing out of its limbs. Probably fins.

A Zora! The thought crossed Link's mind as he watched the creature hit its fins against the bird's head. The enemy staggered back as the rescuer elegantly plunged back into the water. The bird slammed onto the surface, pushing Link underwater again. The Ordonian had just enough time to draw breath. Panic-stricken, he sought to return to the surface once again as he felt the enemy's weight pushing him further down. Whenever he had fought his way up through the feathers, he found himself facing a new obstacle. Over and over again. He slowly lost his sense of direction.

His lungs contracted. Air! He needed air. Slowly the darkness rising from the ground overpowered him. He lost consciousness and didn't even notice two hands that dragged him towards the surface.

v~v*v~v*v~v

When he regained consciousness, the bird had disappeared, as had the Zora. Next to him sat Enora, her legs pulled up and her fingers running over the blade of his sword.

When she noticed his presence, she pulled her hand back. "Good morning!"

Link shook his head and, due to Enora's greeting, registered that the sun had brought back the day.

Enora jumped to her feet. "Wasn't that exciting? This bird - BOOM and BANG." She raised her arms and punched into the air. "And then comes this Zora-thing and BASH bird begone!"

Then she bent down to him.

"You missed everything," she said playfully, tapping the tip of his nose.

Link forced himself to smile.

If only she knew. He had feared his last hour had come. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. It was good to feel the air streaming back into his lungs.

He slowly stood up, took his sword and put it back into the sheath on his back. He then scanned the area for Epona.

She stood in the shackle-deep water and stretched her neck to graze the grass on the shore.

Link whistled softly. Immediately the mare lifted her head and came towards him with her ears tilted forward.

"On to the castle then," Link said without further ado, swinging himself onto her back. The mare's coat was still damp, but the rays of the morning sun were already warm, so Link wasted no time.

With Enora clinging to his waist, he steered the mare away from the water, northward.

Above him he saw the Hylia Bridge, which stretched across the lake at a considerable height. They had to go up there. Fortunately there was a way - a visible one, as Link was full of invisible things for the time being.

Epona climbed the path skillfully and strengthened by the fresh grasses. Soon she galloped towards the castle.

Now that they had left the desert behind, Link felt way better. He intended to thank Prince Ralis next time they met for having Zoras in the right place at the right time. Although the water creatures lived at the northern border of Hyrule, it wasn't unusual for them to follow the course of the river all the way south to Lake Hylia.

As Link made his way across the small plain outside the gates of the city, he immediately noticed an iron-glad guard standing next to the gate waving at them.

"Master Link! Her Highness Princess Zelda would like to talk to you," he reported as Link was close enough. "It is urgent."

Link nodded. That's exactly why he was here. To talk to Princess Zelda.

If she also sought to talk to him, she probably knew Hyrule was in danger - or she had found out something about Enora.

Either way, Link was curious what the princess had to say.

* * *

Update: I just noticed that I did indeed get some of the English names wrong. I used the German version for Telma (which is Thelma, so it's alright I guess) and the German version for Shad (which is Jargo...not so obvious :/ ) I replaced them all with the English version. Sorry for the confusion).


	9. Daughter of the Goddesses

"Hyrule needs your service again. I'm sorry to ask you once again to give up your peaceful village life for a while."

Link, Enora and Zelda sat in the princess' study. Zelda already knew about the shadows before Link and his companion could tell her about them.

Thoughtfully, the princess had placed her head on her hands and pondered her own words.

Concerned, she looked from Enora to Link. The young Hylian had told her exactly what had happened after they had left the castle.

Link sighed and smiled in unrest. "I almost get used to it."

Zelda gave him an encouraging smile, then she looked at Enora.

"The fairy said the Daughter of the Goddesses could tell you who you are?"

The girl nodded without breaking their eye contact.

"I've never heard of her before. Not to mention that I know where she is."

"Me neither, that's exactly the point. If we only had a clue," Link replied. "We also have a serious problem due to the shadows. I don't know yet what danger they pose."

Zelda looked at him without saying a word for a while. Of course she knew that the shadows would not rest. It was a serious matter. A precise assessment of the situation was necessary. Under no circumstances should the danger be underestimated - not again.

"You should pick up the master sword," she finally suggested.

"I should. So with your allowance, I'll be on my way. Enora, you stay with Zelda until I come back." He looked at the girl who didn't return his gaze. She looked to the ground with sadness lining her face. Link sighed and mentally rolled his eyes. "Of course you can come with me, if you like, though."

"The master sword is no longer there," Enora finally said and looked up, only to meet the incomprehensible looks of the two Hylians. "I was where it should be, but it was gone. Back then, before you picked me up," she added.

Link pondered. He had found her near the Lost Woods. How did she even know about the sword? Why had she been there? Did she have anything to do with the disappearance of the divine weapon? He looked at Zelda and read the same questions in her eyes.

"But...nobody but Link is able to pull the sword out of the pedestal," Zelda said with a trace of panic in her voice and Link nodded in agreement.

"If you don't believe me, you can go and have a look," Enora said and crossed her arms like a young, defiant child.

"It's just...," Zelda began, but Link stopped her with a wave of his hand. There was no point arguing or discussing with the girl.

"Actually, before I go. I was hoping you let me have a look around your library," the Ordonian finally said, changing the subject. "The Daughter of the Goddesses should be mentioned in some book, right?"

"I suppose." Zelda stood up and took her guests to the next room, a huge hall filled with two dozens of shelves, each reaching all the way up to the several meters high ceiling. Each one was packed with books.

"Right next door, how convenient," Enora beamed and Zelda nodded with a smile, while the girl disappeared between the shelves dancing.

"What are we looking for," her voice came back shortly after from a completely different corner.

"History? Legends? Maybe something along the line," Link reasoned with a look at Zelda, who nodded in agreement. She approached a shelf nearby and deliberately pulled out a book entitled "Legends of Hyrule".

"Something along the line," she smiled and placed it on a lectern standing next to the shelf against the wall. Confidently she opened the first page.

Link left her alone and browsed through the rows of shelves himself. From time to time he pulled out a book, flipped through it briefly and eventually put it back in disappointment.

There had to be something - at least a tiny clue!

Some time later he returned to Zelda, who was standing exactly where he had left her. She was still absorbed in the same book.

"Well?"

Zelda startled.

"What? Oh... pardon me. Nothing yet. But this book here is really interesting."

She smiled embarrassed. "Here, for example, it's talking about an instrument that had been in the possession of the royal family for centuries - the Ocarina of Time."

"Ocarina of Time? Never heard of it," Link replied.

Zelda shut the book. "It doesn't matter anyway. It's getting late." She looked to a nearby window. Darkness remained outside interrupted only by a few sparkling stars. Time flew.

"We can meet here again tomorrow - "

A guard burst in and interrupted her.

"My sincere apologies, Your Highness, but I have an urgent message for Sir Link. "

The guard's face indicated he had no good news.

Zelda straightened herself. "Speak up!"

"Ordon is under attack."

It was ridiculous. Why would someone attack a village which had nothing but goats? The inhabitants were - with few exceptions - not even warriors. Ordon was the last place you would call a threat.

Thoughts like these were flashing through Link's mind as he kept on pushing Epona. The mare dashed across the plains, sensing the panic of her riders.

Zelda had promised to continue the investigation while Link rushed to Ordon. If someone could find something, it was her, so he didn't waste another thought on it. His thoughts were now with his friends.

A chilly breeze blew through the black trees of the forest, which slowly emerged in front of them. Epona rushed on, relentlessly, her eyes stubbornly fixated on the path ahead.

Link hadn't ridden that fast in a long time.

When they reached Ordona Province, Epona slowed down slightly, but she didn't stop until Link's tree house came in sight.

The Ordonian slid down the horse's back.

"Stay here," he hissed admonishingly to Enora, who nodded and shoved herself into the saddle, clenching the reins.

Quickly and without making any noise, Link scurried through the darkness. As he entered the village he drew the sword and prepared himself.

None of the houses were lit and nothing moved. There was no sign of life.

He listened to the sounds of the forest. There was no cheerful laughter or talking. Ordon appeared to be completely deserted.

He was about to take a step into the village when something swished through the air from behind him. He drove around and drew the sword, holding it in front of him to cover his body from any incoming blows.

Metal and wood crashed against each other. Link stumbled due to the strength of the blow. A Bulblin twice Link's size stood in front of him. The little eyes sat deep in their black sockets, staring at him with a steely glance. Long, monkey-like yet bald arms hung down from its shoulders. In one hand it held a huge club. Its skin was thick and leathery and – from what Link could tell – had a nauseating green hue.

"You ... hero," grumbled the monster.

"What have you done to Rusl and the others," Link yelled at him.

"They ... fine ... ‚cause ... hero ... here."

Link lifted the sword. "Where are they?"

"You...hero," the monster repeated, this time clearly less patiently.

Link slowly moved out of range of the club while he nodded. „Yes! It's me."

The monster roared and before he could do anything about it, Link found himself surrounded by Bulblins.

"Master ... glad," the monster calmly retorted, letting his long tongue hang out of his mouth filled with sharp fangs. The first few Bulblins hurled themselves towards the Ordonian. He wielded the sword, about to defend himself.

Fighting these creatures used to be a routine for him, but he was not longer sure if he had a chance without the Master Sword.

Some of the Bulblins retreated with loud screaming noises. Every time Link thought he had the upper hand another wave of Bulblins closed in.

Link's palms were sweaty and the sword grip slowly slipped through his fingers. A clumsy blow from a Bulblin knocked the weapon from his hand. It was hurled through the air and landed in the middle of the raging crowd of monsters.

"Damn," Link mumbled. There were drops of sweat on his skin and his hair stuck to his forehead as the Bulblins closed in.

There was no chance to escape.

The clattering sound of hooves was heard shortly before a massive body launched itself into the air. It came down among the Bulblins, and several of them yelped in pain. With one swift movement the newcomer picked up speed and galloped towards Link.

Epona roared and Enora, sitting on her back, lost her grip. Link reached out and caught the blue-skinned girl, while the horse - trampling down a Bulblin - fled behind a nearby house.

As Enora hung in Link's arms, she began to gleam.

The Bulblins held their claw-like hands in front of their faces, whimpering, and gradually retreated.

Slowly the quietness returned to the village.

Link stared at the girl in amazement as she looked at him with shining eyes.

"Well caught," she said with a smile, hopping on her feet and patting the dust off her dress.

Didn't she notice what just had happened? She was no longer radiating light...

Link got to his feet as well and had a look around. Before he could go searching for the villagers, he heard a familiar voice.

"Link!" One moment later he found himself in an embrace.

"Ilia," he said in astonishment, as the rest of the villagers approached him.

"Is everyone okay?" Link moved his eyes over the crowd as he freed himself from his friend's welcoming hug.

"Enora's light rescued us," Ilia beamed. "I was so scared when those Bulblins came into our village all of a sudden."

"What were they doing here?" her father Boro, the mayor, interjected outraged.

Link lowered his eyes in guilt as he remembered the words of their leader. "They were after me."

Ilia looked at him in horror.

"But why?"

Link lifted his left arm and looked at the back of his hand where the Triforce was hiding under the glove. He had carried the mark all his life long and found out about it on his journey. It was more than just a mark, it was proof he was the chosen hero.

Everyone was eyeing him in curiosity. The glances were unbearable.

"I should go," he said evasively and took his sword from Enora, who had picked it up for him. He then swung himself onto Epona's back who had re-emerged from behind the house after everything had calmed down.

Enora seated herself behind him.

"I'm sorry. The less you know, the better," he muttered as he squeezed his heels into Epona's flanks and left the village while waving goodbye.

Ilia looked after him sorrowfully. There it was again, this feeling of rejection. Was she still part of his life? Why had Link changed so much? She knew he had played a crucial role in saving Hyrule. Were the horrors he had experienced still hunting him? It was thanks to him that she had regained her memories. She wished for nothing more than to return the favor. She wanted to help him. Help to sort out his thoughts and forget what had happened. He should be allowed to have a peaceful life. He deserved it.

v~v*v~v*v~v

Link led Epona walk at her own pace. The mare had already strained herself enough during the night and he himself felt a bit tired, too. He directed his horse to Ordona's fountain. The Spirit of Light might know something about the Daughter of the Goddesses.

The water in the spring appeared black as tar in the shadow of the night. Link dismounted the mare and walked a short distance into the small lake.

"O Ordona, I seek your guidance," he exclaimed into the darkness.

There was no movement.

"Can you tell me something about the Daughter of the Goddesses?" he kept trying.

Silence.

Disheartened, he waded back. Why did Ordona refuse to speak to him? Or maybe she wasn't able to.

He mounted Epona. On the way back to the castle he'd pass Faron's fountain. He intended to try again there.

When he had left the spring to the north and disappeared between the trees, a girl silently stepped on the path behind him.

"Daughter of the Goddesses?" Ilia whispered wonderingly into the night.


	10. Mystery of the Temple of Time

Link continued his journey. Tired and desolated. Even Epona let her head and ears droop, despite the first rays of the morning sun dappling through the canopy of leaves, flooding the woods with a refreshing green light.

Only Enora noticed how pretty the forest looked at this time of day. She gazed enthusiastically from left to right not able to fathom the beauty of the scenery.

Link could only wonder about her good mood. He felt even more helpless than ever before.

After Faron hadn't shown himself either, the young Hylian had decided to go where he believed things had started. To where Enora had awakened. To the Temple of Time.

A familiar sour smell penetrated his nose as the first dark red swaths appeared next to the path.

The swamp was right in front of them. Not many people dared to come here and if someone happened to come here, it was probably the last thing they ever did.

The fumes were highly poisonous and deadly even in small doses – unless you knew how to avoid them.

Link had fortunately learned how to get through the swamp alive. A monkey had stolen his lamp and beaconed him through the poisonous swaths. As it turned out, the poisonous fumes gave way to light.

As Link dismounted Epona and sought to light his lamp, his thoughts traveled back through time. Before the creatures from the twilight had fallen into the land, the marsh had been a beautiful part of the forest, with healthy trees and fertile soil. This was once a place of healing plants found nowhere else in Hyrule. But that was all gone.

Link attached the lamp to a branch he found next to the jetty that protruded a bit into the swamp. A remnant of long forgotten times when the swamp used to be a lake – probably. You could only assume.

Link swung the lamp in wide circles while making his way down into the swaths.

The poisoned air receded as he worked his way westwards - Enora, who walked Epona on the reins, on his heels.

All along Link hoped they would come across a Deku Baba or something like that, but nothing was to be seen. None of the escaped monsters showed up, something the young man considered a bad omen. The attack on Ordon had proven that his opponents were up to something. But what? He could not say. He hoped to find clues before it was too late. What worried him most was that the attackers seemed to know exactly what was going on, but he had no idea at all.

He didn't even know the true identity of his companion. Although Link felt comfortable around her, he had tremendous respect of her abilities. She had clearly demonstrated what she was capable of several times before.

Relieved, they finally left the swamp behind and mounted Epona who leaped with ease over the broad ditch that separated them from the Lost Woods. In this part of the forest the trees stood so densely that one could hardly spot the next one. The low-hanging branches contributed to this, turning the forest into an unfathomable thicket. One could get lost quickly here.

Slowly Epona progressed, while Link and Enora - cowering close to her back – were busy avoiding the low hanging branches.

"Do you want to play with us," a voice sounded as a little child jumped up in front of Epona's hooves and danced happily while the lantern in its hand wavered dangerously. On its head it wore a big hat and his clothes consisted of leaves and other materials you could find in the forest. When it had finished its dance, it looked at Link with a wide grin and red glowing but playful eyes. Then his happy expression changed into a frown.

"You don't remember us?"

"But of course," Link replied, not half as pleased as the creature.

The last time it had led the hero astray. He ended up wandering around the grove for hours. Link won't let this happen again. This time the creature should not succeed.

"Where's your companion?"

Utterly irritated, Link dismounted Epona.

A companion? Yes, someone had been with him, but he couldn't remember. It was as if somebody had thrown all his memories onto a pile and locked it away deep within his memories. He didn't know why, but he couldn't remember, no matter how hard he tried.

Before he could ask anything about the companion, the creature leapt into the air and landed - after a somersault - in front of Enora on Epona's back.

"Oh well then... Let's play something else!" It slammed the lamp into the horse's side. The mare reared up and dashed off towards Link. He could only just dodge her in the very last moment. She passed him and disappeared into the thicket of the forest.

Enora cried out and clung to the saddle with both arms so as not to fall down.

Link ran after them pantingly. Epona was much faster than him and soon he had to give up to catch his breath.

It was too late for him as he realized he was completely lost - again. Just because of this mischievous forest spirit.

He worked his way through the thicket using his sword, but whenever he turned around, the path he had just cleared was gone. As if the forest was alive and the trees were moving closer together more and more.

The wind rustled ominously through the leaves, although Link didn't feel the slightest gust of air.

He heard his name. Somebody was calling out for him.

"Enora?" His voice sounded stifled.

Nothing happened.

He tried again. "Enora!" And again.

It was quiet all around him. Except for the rustling of the canopy above.

There! Something was walking through the soft undergrowth. He could hear the crunching of the leaves and branches on the ground.

Shortly afterwards Epona appeared in front of him. Enora jumped from her back and embraced her partner.

"Finally! You shouldn't have run away! We would have found you much earlier," she rebuked seriously. "Skull Kid just wanted to play, but I could persuade them to help us."

Confused, Link looked down at her blue hair and then at Epona, with Skull Kid sitting on her back grinning at him.

"We'll show you the way to the Temple of Time," it laughed. "Come onto friend Epona's back."

Completely overwhelmed by the fact that Enora had helped him out of trouble again, the young man and his companion swung onto the back of his mare behind Skull Kid. Epona wasn't too enthusiastic about carrying three riders at the same time, but she luckily didn't make any effort to buck them off. Link gratefully patted her neck. Following Skull Kid's instructions, he steered his mare through the thicket until they finally arrived at a clearing.

"Here we are," Enora said and hopped down onto the grass-covered ground. Skull Kid jumped around as Link and Epona entered the opening.

The broken walls of ancient ruins were almost completely overgrown with moss and other plants, making the place even more mysterious and ominous.

Finally, the Ordonian dismounted Epona and let her graze the soft grasses of the clearing.

Following Enora, he passed through the only gate that had not yet decayed and froze at the sight before him.

The earth was stirred up and traversed by countless trenches. They all went to the middle, where a stone pedestal stood. The little grass that had survived the catastrophe, which apparently must have happened here, was sprayed with a dark red, sticky substance. Five shredded corpses lay scattered about the pedestal. Links breath faltered at the rotten stench that crept into his nostrils as he went to Enora, who knelt on the platform in the middle.

"This is where I woke up," she muttered, ignoring the devastation around her.

Link nodded thoughtfully. Enora had been right after all. The Master Sword was gone. But who or what could have taken it away?

The young man mustered all his courage and began to search the clearing. Maybe there were some hints.

He also examined the bodies, but a fire had burned any chance of finding a clue.

Not hiding the disappointment in his face, he finally returned to the platform in the middle, which looked like the life-saving island in a stormy sea. Not a single drop of blood tainted the surface. Enora still sat on the small block in the middle, where the sacred blade used to be.

"Where is Skull Kid," he inquired.

"No idea. They thought they still had something to do and left," she sighed. This place seemed to make her sentimental.

"Come, let's go back to Zelda. Maybe she's already found something," Link said with the most encouraging voice he could muster and helped her up. Before they could leave the clearing, Skull Kid returned and jumped all around them.

"Back again," it sang. "And they brought someone with them!" The spirit turned around but judging from it's grimace it didn't see what it had hoped for and looked back disappointedly to Link.

"Gone," they sang in a nevertheless good mood and grabbed Enora's hand to ask her for a dance.

She let herself be dragged along and regained some of her good mood.

Link watched them dance. A loud snap made him spin around. A mighty golden wolf stepped out between the leaves and leapt elegantly into the clearing. The light that radiated from him billowed like dust about the ruined walls, the floor and the pedestal and made them gleam like in the sunset.

The wolf approached the middle of the clearing. He was holding a scroll in his mouth and looked at Link, who didn't dare to move.

The animal finally laid its souvenir onto the pedestal. With its intelligent eyes it gazed at the young man once more before turning around. The golden rod twitched once more, then the wolf faded and vanished completely.

For a few more seconds Link stood there motionlessly, staring at the spot where the golden wolf had disappeared. Then he ran to grab the scroll.

He knew that this wolf was on his side, for he had learned most of his sword techniques from the undead warrior hiding beneath the golden fur.

With swift fingers, he removed the ribbon that held the scroll and unwrapped it.

It was a map of Hyrule, similar to one he already possessed. But something was different. It appeared to be much older. Some places were marked in a fading red color and a large Triforce was prominent where the capital of Hyrule must be.

"Where are you?" Enora's face appeard in the gate. When she saw the young Ordonian standing there without moving even a slightly bit she approached him curiously and pulled down his hand so she could look at the map as well. Thoughtfully, she tapped on the Triforce in the middle.

"What's there?"

Link shrugged his shoulders.

"This is a matter for Shad," he finally said, rolling up the parchment and leading Enora back to Epona, where Skull Kid took turns running around one of her four legs, playing a shrill, fast melody on their little trumpet.

When the two approached them, Skull Kid jumped on the back of the mare and waited patiently with swinging its legs back and forth. The forest spirit was all ready to lead them out of the forest.

v~v*v~v*v~v

"What do you think," Link inquired impatiently, as Shad had been mumbling over the map for hours.

After Skull Kid had navigated them safely out of the grove, Link and Enora had traveled to Hyrule Castle Town and found Shad at Telma's bar, exactly as he had promised back in the desert.

"I think I know something..." Shad rummaged in his bag and drew out a book from it. It had a dark red cover with a map of Hyrule engraved in the surface with delicate lines. The book showed signs of usage and the pages were stained and yellowed.

Shad intentionally opened the book at a specific page.

"Let me see...the three marked areas - Zora's Domain, Death Mountain, and some place in the forest beyond the Sacred Grove." Curiously Link nodded and encouraged Shad to go on.

"I don't know what it means. But..." Shad pointed to the Triforce in the middle of the map. "That could indicate a shrine or something." He placed the book on the table. The visible page showed another old map of Hyrule, an almost perfect copy of Link's except for the red marks and the golden Triforce.

"See? There is a temple in the map at the exact same location," Shad stated. "That should be approximately the place where the fountain is today."

Link nodded. "Is there another entrance to this temple?" He couldn't remember seeing anything remarkable near the well.

"Well, not here in town," Telma spoke, who had joined in curiously. Enora stood next to her and was literally clinging to the bartenders coat-tails. "The other entrance has to be somewhere else, probably out of town. If there's another entrance, that is."

"I could try to find a map," Shad suggested right away, grabbed his book and disappeared from the bar without any further ado.

"He's most likely going to the library, which means we won't see him for the next few days," Telma laughed, pulling on her skirt to get rid of Enora and disappeared into the kitchen. Shortly afterwards she came back with two plates.

"You can eat something in the meantime and then go to bed. You look terribly tired," she said, looking at the dark circles around Link's eyes. She placed two plates filled with soup on the table in front of Link. "Enjoy your meal!"


	11. First Clue

Hopelessly, Link walked across the market square. The golden Triforce figure protruded in front of him. It stood out far above the crowd of busy passers-by. Link hadn't found any clue at the fountain itself, no hidden switch or anything else that would have revealed or at least hinted at the existence of a temple.

Enora slipped through the crowd ahead of him as they slowly walked south, approaching the town's gate. The sun lit up the stairs leading down to the grassy plain outside the city.

Thoughtfully, the young man strolled across the juicy green grass. Telma had forced him and Enora outside to enjoy the nice weather. Shad hadn't shown up again since he had left for the library and Link wanted to stay with Telma until the bookworm returned - even though he wasn't at all entitled to wait whilst Hyrule faced it's inevitable doom.

Enora hopped around through the tall grass and sought to catch a butterfly, which was fluttering up and down in front of her.

Link watched her. Looking at her as she jumped around like a kitten. Seeing her like that made it difficult to believe she kept such a mysterious secret.

Another girl approached the flower field next to Enora with curiosity.

The newcomer wore a light blue dress with a vast skirt decorated with pink butterflies. She had her blond hair tied in two pigtails. In her hand she held a white parasol, with which she waved back and forth, as she insulted Enora, „How dare you scaring my little friend like that?! Butterflies have feelings, too."

Intimidated, Enora duck her head and looked apologetically at the little insect that had settled on a flower next to her and slowly flapped its wings.

"It's alright, Princess Agitha. Enora didn't want to hurt it," Link reassured her.

The girl named Agitha was furious, but as soon as she saw Link, she began to smile. "Ah, you're the one who brought all my golden insect friends to my ball. I'll forgive your friend, but only because you were so kind to my guests. Thanks to you we had a wonderful party."

With this and her parasol open, she stalked away.

Enora gave Link a grateful look before turning back to the butterfly that had been knocked off the flower by a slight blast of air and was now fluttering away energetically.

"Hey, wait!" Enora ran after him laughingly.

Link glanced at Agitha once again. She was sitting on the steps of the staircase leading to the city, holding the opened parasol in one hand, flipping through a book with the other one and eyeing Enora suspiciously.

The young hero smiled and followed his companion slowly at some distance, his gaze lifted up to the sky, where small white clouds slowly passed by.

A silver shimmering gleam appeared. It described a curve and finally hit the ground somewhere close to Enora.

Tensely holding his breath, Link ran to the girl who had paused her game and stared in the direction of where the thing had disappeared.

As he was about to reach Enora, she dashed forward.

Link's heartbeat stopped for a second as Enora headed for the deep hole that freely fell down to Lake Hylia - and the water surface was very, very, very deep down.

"Enora! Stop," Link exclaimed, but it was too late. The girl had disappeared.

He plunged to the hole and saw the girl's blue face smiling happily at him from below.

"Look at that! There's a path over here," she said and immediately set out to follow the narrow path downwards.

Reluctantly Link watched her. What was the meaning of this?

He swung his legs into the hole and carefully skidded down until he felt the rocky path under his feet.

As he glanced over the edge of the cliff, he saw Agitha running towards him with her eyes wide open in horror. Her umbrella lay somewhere in front of the stairs where she had dropped it.

"Everything is fine," he shouted to her with a reassuring voice, but she did not calm down.

"Such madness!" She had finally caught up to him.

"Don't worry! We only have to investigate something', the young man explained and proceeded to walk further downwards.

"You are truly peculiar," he heard Agitha's troubled voice as her face disappeared above him.

Gradually he went all the way down, following Enora, who was already well below him. Even further down was the water of the lake, which could only be assumed, for a cloud of mist hid the surface from his gaze.

Enora stopped and reluctantly disappeared into a crevice.

"A passage! You have to see this," her voice sounded. With an uneasy feeling, Link slipped behind her into the darkness, which was only slightly lit by a small, half-extinguished torch.

Enora stood in front of him. She struggled to see anything in the that filled out the passage.

Quickly Link took his lamp, lit it with the torch and held it high above his head to spot the course of the tunnel.

The glow of the flame wasn't stretching far, but he was at least able to see that the tunnel was going straight ahead.

Enora tugged excitedly at his tunic. "Are we going to go this way?"

Link nodded hesitantly as he slowly set himself in motion - one hand loosely wrapped around the handle of his sword. Dark hallways usually had their dark secrets, thus, Link was prepared to defend himself at anytime.

The damp cave walls glistened in the light of the lamp as Link walked past them. Water from stalagmites dripped quietly from stalactites and formed small puddles on the ground.

The flame flickered in the cold breeze coming from somewhere ahead of them. It filled the tunnel with the stench of decay and death.

Link held his breath and peered around the final corner. The tunnel had led them into a large room. Huge stalagmites protruded from the floor and partly connected to the stalactites hanging from the ceiling.

A narrow path with shallow water splashing to both its sides ran across the room to an altar. A tall human-like being leaned over the withered stone. The creature had placed its arms as if to protect the altar and rested its large head on its hands. Most of the flesh had decayed, showing the skull and bones underneath. Two horns and sharp teeth were visible on the skull. A large ax lay on the ground in front of the eerie figure.

Dead silence prevailed, which was only interrupted by the splashes of small drops of water.

Cautiously Link placed one foot in the room while his hand tightened around the sword's handle. Nothing moved. Even time seemed to stand still.

The whole room was filled with a dim light and yet there were no shadows, as if the light was coming from everywhere at the same time.

Curiously Link looked around. Everything here seemed to disintegrate somehow and a musty smell filled the air, just like the one that they confronted in the tunnel. Once this must have been a beautiful, decorated room, but that was a long time ago - a very long time ago and the only witnesses left behind were the spots on the ceiling where half-blurred ornaments were visible.

"Look at that," Enora shouted.

Link drove around. The girl had crept past him and was now standing next to the altar, looking with wide eyes at the torn skin of the scary corpse.

Link quickly caught up with her.

He was about to start a lecture when he saw the signs on the altar. They looked somehow familiar to him.

He touched the engravings...

Drought, cold fingers grabbed his arm and pushed him away from the altar. He stumbled backwards and struggled to free himself from the iron grip.

Two green glowing dots stared at him from black eye sockets as the creature slowly rose and climbed over the altar.

"Back off," it growled in a threatening growl, exposing the long, pointed teeth that protruded from under the half-rotten skin.

The bony hand wrapped itself tighter around Link's arm, while the other one grabbed the ax.

In panic, Link fought to free himself from the grip. He tugged at the icy fingers with all the power he could muster.

The Triforce lit up. The light shone through his leather gloves.

The grip loosened and the young Ordonian managed to break free.

Enora confronted the creature that had retreated from the light and stood motionlessly in front of the altar. She faced the enemy with furious eyes.

It laughed grimly as it raised its voice again, "I knew you would show up here sooner or later, Hero of Twilight, Link!

"Who are you," Link inquired suspiciously.

"I am Durethel, the guardian of the Shrine of Eternity - the very shrine you are standing in."

So there really was a shrine!

v~v*v~v*v~v

The monster rose to its full size with its head almost touching the ceiling. "But that doesn't matter now. What is it, that brings me the honor of finally meeting you?"

"We're seeking to find out who I am," Enora replied before the young man was finished contemplating what he should say. None of them was surprised that the creature knew Link's name, after all almost everyone in Hyrule did by now.

"If so, this is not the right place for you to find answers." The creature was about to turn around again when Link stopped it. "We would like to meet the Daughter of the Goddesses."

Immediately the monster paused. "So, you've heard of the Daughter?" It laughed gloomily. "Well, I know where she is. I could tell you. But first you have to do me a little favor."

"What would this favor be?" Enora had crossed her arms in front of her chest and didn't seem to be completely convinced of the being's good intentions.

"Bring me the three sacred stones." He placed the ax in front of the altar and pointed to the three symbols carved into the cold stone.

"What kind of stones? And where do we find them?" Enora's expression didn't change, while Link's gaze just drifted back and forth between the girl and Durethel in confusion.

"That, you'll have to find out for yourself. You made it this far so the rest will be breeze," laughed the eerie keeper as it climbed over the altar. "But I can give you a little food for thought."

The room around Link turned black and he felt his body being pulled into a vortex. The colors blurred before his eyes before he lost consciousness.

v~v*v~v*v~v

"Link!" Shad stood in front of the city gate and searched the plain with his eyes. "Where are you?!"

While listening he walked down the steps. Silence - nobody answered.

Link had to be somewhere. Worriedly Shad looked to the horizon, where only a few sunbeams blinked over the mountain peaks. Soon he would have to stop the search.

He was about to turn around and look somewhere else when he saw a figure kneeling in the high grass who also seemed to be looking for something.

Quickly he ran over to her. Maybe she had seen Link.

When the girl heard him coming, she lifted her head, stood up and knocked the blades of grass off her dress.

"Ah, Agitha," Shad gasped and stopped in front of her.

She gave him an angry look.

"Sorry, Princess Agitha," he quickly corrected himself. "Did you see Link?"

She chewed nervously on her lower lip as she moved a step to the side, directing Shad's gaze to the hole behind her.

"He and his friend climbed down there," she replied without bothering to hide the snide in her voice. "I've been waiting here for hours for them to come back."

"Maybe he fell," Shad suspected with a worried voice and looked down the pit.

Agitha shook her head. "I don't think so. I clearly would have heard that!"

Shad reflected. "In any case, we have to look for him." His gaze scurried to the mountain peaks. "He will have to endure the night. Princess Zelda has forbidden to be outside the town walls at night. Come, Princess Agitha. Let's go back."

* * *

Hello everyone,

Hope you enjoy the story so far.

My life has gotten busy lately. I'm afraid I won't be able to translate and proof read a new chapter every week so we sadly have to switch to every two weeks. I'll also move uploads to Wednesdays, as I'm also uploading on deviantart that day. I want to give this story the time and attention it deserves and not rush things or stress myself out over it.

I won't stop uploading, though.

Thank you for understanding.

Have a great day and remember to leave a review every now and then so I know what you think, might be able to correct some wordings and/or typos and stay motivated, as comments are the fuel that keep me rolling. :)

~Freiha


	12. Chasing a Legend I: Meeting Prince Ralis

Cheerful birdsong woke the Ordonian. He slowly opened his eyes. The azure sky spread out above him, with only a few small fluffy clouds passing by.

He laboriously straightened up and looked around. The young man sat in the soft riparian grass of a river. The water flowed down into the valley, passing by under a bridge that led along the facade of a house connecting the two sides of the river.

A silent sight made him turn around. He found Enora sleeping next to him.

He gently shook her shoulder, but she didn't even think about waking up. Murmuring, she pushed his hand away and turned around.

"Hey, wake up," Link whispered and shook her once more. She started up as if stung by a Ghoma. "Where are we?"

Her arms wrapped around Link's body, squeezing all air out of his lungs.

"This creature was creepy," she whispered into his ear. She held tight for a couple more seconds before she let go of him. Link simply nodded as his memories slowly returned. The Shrine of Eternity, Durethel. Did he really know where the Daughter of the Goddesses was, or was that just an act? He did not look too trustworthy. What should they do?

There was no other hint they could follow so far. Was that reason enough to follow this shady being? What else could they do?

He pondered and took Enora's hand.

"That's Iza's house," Link explained, pointing to the hut. "An acquaintance of mine."

Enora nodded shyly. "And what are we supposed to do here?" She didn't bother to wait for an answer as she stood up and ran up a hill that formed a small ledge above the water. She leaned against a stone standing there with one hand and shielded her eyes from the sun with the other while trying to scout the surroundings. She couldn't see far due to the cliffs surrounding the valley.

When Link approached her, she dropped into the grass and began to pluck single blades of grass.

Meanwhile the Ordonian took a closer look at the stone. It was half the size of Link himself and had a hole in the center, framed by an engraving of an eye with a tear. Link had used such stones to summon a golden wolf, who had taught him new sword techniques. But today the stone only offered habitat for moss and tiny insects. The magic was gone.

With a sigh he turned away. He liked the place - so idyllic and calm.

When he let his gaze roam over the water and the shore, two figures caught his eye. They were standing on a bridge, which was formed by nature itself, and gestured excitedly. They had hylian-like bodies, but their skin was completely light blue - almost like Enora's - and their arms and legs grew long fins, which twitched with every movement. Instead of hair, another fin sprouted out of their heads and their faces were hidden under large masks, looking like faces of fish. They were warriors of the Zora tribe, creatures of water, who had their homes at the spring of the river. Sometimes they came down to this point or followed the river even further south to Lake Hylia.

When the two Zora spotted the Hylian, they rushed towards him.

Link hurried over to them as well. They met half-way.

"Ah, Sir Link," one of them greeted the hero with excitement.

"We were just talking about you," the other Zora added.

Link eyed them wonderingly.

"Prince Ralis wishes to speak with you," the first Zora immediately responded as he noticed Link's puzzled expression.

"It would honor us if we could accompany you. That is, if you are willing to pay Prince Ralis a visit right now."

Link pondered for a moment and eventually nodded. He didn't know what else to do, so he might as well visit his friend Ralis.

"Sure, I'd love to." The Ordonian turned around and waved Enora, who had watched him motionlessly. He hasn't moved away even an inch from the stone.

Immediately the girl jumped to her feet and skidded down the hill until she reached Link.

Together they set out to Zora's domain by following the path upstream along the river. It wasn't far and soon they reached the entrance to the domain.

The realm of the fish-like creatures consisted of a large basin of water into which several waterfalls flowed. It was surrounded by high cliffs, protecting it and the sensitive skin of the Zora from the heat of the sun.

Countless faded shapes and patterns were evident on the rocky surface. Whether these were of natural origin or were carved there by ancient civilizations could no longer be determined.

The springs in Zora's domain provided all Hyrule with water, which ran as large river from the basin in winding streams down into Lake Hylia.

The four travelers had to be careful, as the path became narrow between the steep wall of rock on one side and by the river itself on the other side. The water ran in strong currents. Too strong for a normal Hylian.

More and more Zora met them, even some whose tender faces were not hidden under a helmet.

They welcomed Link briefly without pausing their activities.

Enora watched them with big eyes. It was fascinating to see the creatures darting through the water, heading for the shore with daring flips, and finally landing on solid ground with a single leap.

As the group went past the last rock, the beautiful sight of the domain spread out in front of them.

The water glittered in the fading sunlight like thousands of stars. The air was filled with the sound of roaring waterfalls. The largest of the falls rose right in front of them and emerged from a cave containing Ralis' throne room.

Link, gnashing his teeth, looked at the cave entrance above them.

Now all they had to do was climb the steep cliffs.

Link naturally turned around and followed a small path along the wall, which led steadily upwards and finally into a tunnel.

Enora followed him enthusiastically.

The slope in the tunnel increased with every step, but Link did neither stop nor slow down until he saw the light that came from the exit.

From up here one could admire the domain in all its beauty and magic. The water was still glistening in the sunlight, which was now almost completely gone.

Enora stepped to the edge and enjoyed the view breathlessly.

"Fascinating, isn't it," Link muttered, completely overwhelmed as if he saw it for the first time. He received only a reverent nod as an answer.

They stood there until the last ray of sunlight had disappeared behind the mountains. Link led his companion into the cave that opened up right next to the tunnel they had come from. The opening was only a few meters from the cliff over which the waterfall poured into the basin. Within the cave was the throne room.

It was quiet in the throne room except for the soft sound of water. The walls were decorated with elaborate patterns and on both sides of the river were paths separated from the water by several decorated columns. At the front side there were seaweed-like walls between the columns, leaving only a small passage between the throne and the water basin in the middle of the room.

It smelled like fish, but nobody was surprised, because Zora not only looked like fish, they were also mad about eating fish. Prince Ralis was regarded as one of the best fishermen among their peers and the only one who managed to catch Reekfish - a delicacy.

"Link! I didn't expect you so soon. I'm glad you could come so quickly." Prince Ralis approached him with his hands outstretched. Like almost all Zora, he wore no clothes, but his body was covered with gold and silver jewelry. He seemed much more mature than when they had met last time. He had been the ruler of the Zora Empire since the death of his mother, Queen Rutela. This responsibility had made him grow up.

"And you even brought someone with you." His gaze fell on Enora.

"It's nice to see you again all safe and sound," Link replied, who wanted to get the formalities over with quickly. "That's Enora." He gave Ralis a look that unmistakably made him understand that the prince should not ask any more questions. To stress that Link added, "Why did you want to talk to me?"

"Well." The Zora clapped his hands and all his subjects who were still in the cave immediately leapt into the pool and drifted to the waterfall. A short time later the three of them were alone.

"I don't know if you've noticed it yet, but your rapid arrival suggests me that you have," the prince began in a hushed voice, after the last Zora had disappeared. "My guards have seen more and more monsters around here. Similarly strange creatures like the ones which once roamed Hyrule's plains during Ganondorf's reign."

Link nodded and his gaze fell briefly on Enora. She ducked her head, but Link soothed her with an encouraging smile.

"I know. I'm really sorry, but whatever you ask me to do: I can't help you - at least not yet," he answered Ralis unvoiced plea.

The prince looked at him bewildered. "But you are the only one who can kill them. I don't understand..."

Link interrupted him. "Don't worry, we'll do our best to destroy the monsters, but for now fighting some of them is pointless. They would keep coming back."

It felt odd to refuse Ralis' request. Never before had he denied to help someone in need. He understood Ralis' concerns, but he didn't want to pointlessly endanger himself or Enora.

When he saw Ralis' disappointed expression, Link put a comforting hand on the prince's shoulder.

"Ralis! You have strong warriors at your side. They can handle the monsters that are roaming around the area. At the moment, the enemy is still weak, but he will quickly become stronger. I'm working on a plan that might help us here."

The prince nodded thoughtfully. Link felt like a traitor. Prince Ralis was his friend, but he had no choice. Time was pressing, especially since he didn't know what the Shadows were up to. The attack on Ordon came to his mind again. What if they gathered to repeat the same thing but this time they would overrun all Hyrule? He was not allowed to be distracted by such 'little things' as helping the Zora.

"Nothing will happen to you. The goddesses are still on our side," the young Ordonian continued.

Ralis said nothing. His eyes were fixated on a spot on the ground and Link took his hand off the shoulder of the Zora.

"I'm sorry."

With these words he turned around, but before he could even take one step out of the cave, Ralis held him back.

"If there's anything I can do to help you, let me know," the Zora offered and looked into Link's blue eyes, confidence lining his features.

Link shook his head. He would have to tell Ralis and drag him into a conflict he might not be able to handle. Hadn't the prince gone through enough already?

"Come on, Enora. Let's go."

"Wait! I'm not finished yet!" The girl knelt on the ground and put small stones, she had found, into a pattern.

Prince Ralis watched her form small circles and triangles.

His eyes widened as he remarked. "Hey, I know that."

Curiously, Link came closer and glanced over Enora's shoulder.

The symbol was hard to read, but he recognized it immediately - one of the three symbols on the altar had looked like this.

"How do you know it?" the Ordonian inquired and immediately noticed in Ralis' gaze that the Prince associated the question straight away with Link's mysterious intentions.

"My mother had a necklace with such a pendant. She called it Zora stone or something like that," he explained willingly.

"You don't happen to know where this stone is, do you?"

Ralis shrugged his shoulders. "I haven't seen it since my mother passed away."

"…"

During their conversation Enora had stood up with a happy face and positioned herself next to Link, who was now wondering whether the girl had accidentally laid this pattern, or if she had done it with the intention of luring him onto the right track. Did she perhaps already know where to find the stone? Then why didn't she say so?

"You could pay her a visit," Ralis ripped him from his thoughts.

Visit the queen's grave? Yes, he could do that. Except... it wasn't quite close by. Zora buried their deceased sovereigns in a secret cave behind the cemetery of Kakariko.

"I will. Thank you!" With a farewell greeting he reached for Enora's hand and walked the girl out of the throne room and down the nightly cliffs.


	13. Chasing a Legend II: A Boat Trip is Fun

As they left Zora's Domain behind, Link was thinking about the fastest way to Kakariko.

Without Epona, it would take them days to get there and they didn't have days. Besides, the mare was with Telma and going to Hyrule Castle Town would take them at least a day, too.

Telma! She was probably worried sick. Somehow, he had to tell her that he had solved one - albeit small - part of the riddle and that he and Enora were fine.

Thoughtfully, he glanced at the girl bouncing happily next to him.

She was barely visible in the darkness, as the moonlight did not reach so deep into the gorge.

Link depended solely on his knowledge of the place when making their way down along the river.

When a soft glimmer of light covered Enora's blue skin, he looked up. They had returned to where they had met the Zora.

Immediately his eyes fell on Iza's house.

"That's where we're going to stay tonight."

Enora nodded and ran to the door to knock hard against it.

It didn't take long until a tall, slender woman opened and looked down at the girl inquiring. The most striking thing about her was her tousled hair, which sat on her head like a giant snowball. And Enora couldn't stop herself from staring at it in awe. Iza didn't notice or she ignored it.

"What are you doing here," she remarked before she noticed Link climbing the stairs to stop next to the girl.

"Ah! A customer?" Her voice immediately changed into a business pitch. She winked at him and stepped aside to let them in.

Her house consisted of two rooms - one was used as a living room and the other was used to welcome her customers and distribute the canoes. She was the owner of one of the most famous attractions in all Hyrule: canoe white-water rafting. Link had rented a canoe several times because it was the fastest and safest way down to Lake Hylia. There were also targets all along the way that could be smashed with an arrow and for enough targets you were handed a prize. Of course, Link could not miss this. Besides it was fun. More than he had initially expected the first time he came here.

It was dim in the room. The only light came from a candle Iza held in her hand.

"We want to spend the night," stated Enora.

"Oh..." Iza looked at Link, who nodded his head in agreement.

"But I can't just let you spend the night at my place. My house is not designed for that," she replied slightly annoyed.

"You still owe me a favor," Link began. "For clearing the river of stones."

"I already gave you my bomb bag", Iza defended herself.

"A small bomb bag for keeping your business alive...", Link replied dryly.

She didn't say anything for a while and Link already had the feeling she was going to kick Enora and him out when she finally nodded, albeit reluctantly, "All right, then. But just this one night!"

Satisfied Link nodded and Enora jumped around the room singing.

Iza watched her with a curious expression and Link fervently hoped she wouldn't ask questions because he didn't feel like sharing any information with her. Especially since it could get her into trouble. Until he knew exactly how important Enora's role in the current events was, he would keep quiet.

"May I ask where the journey will go?" Iza leaned far over the laid table as she fished for a small carafe of milk.

They had spent the night and had breakfast. Even though Iza wasn't prepared for guests, it felt like she had enough food here to serve a garnison.

Link put his bowl back next to his plate.

"To Kakariko," Enora dropped in before Link could avoid the question.

"So?" Iza wondered. "And how are you going to get there? Walk?" She laughed disapprovingly.

Link did not reply. He just stared at the empty bowl in front of him.

"I'm sorry I can't help you. My canoes don't go very well ashore."

"Only to Lake Hylia," Enora interfered. "Right?"

Iza nodded.

"Then..." Link began to think. "That's where we're going." There was a direct way from the lake to the cemetery of Kakariko. In fact, it would take Link directly to the tomb of the royal Zora family. But the current there was so strong that Link saw no chance to swim against it. Only Zora were able to do so. So, he had no choice but to hope that he would meet a helpful Zora at Lake Hylia. However, for the time being, this was the fastest route.

"Of course! If you can pay properly, that is," Iza replied, and the businesslike expression from the day before flashed in her eyes.

Nodding, the young Ordonian reached into his pocket and pulled out some rupees.

Link hadn't had any money issues since his adventure. Zelda had paid him enough. She had not let it be taken from her, even after he had thankfully declined several times.

"That should be sufficient."

The eyes of the young woman grew big: "But...30 rupees? That's far too much!"

Link dismissed her reluctance: "Keep the change. Consider it a thank you for the food."

Without hesitation the woman ran out of the living room. Shortly afterwards, clinking and rattling could be heard from the neighboring room. "I will give you my best canoe."

Half an hour later, Link boarded the small boat after Enora. According to Iza the boat was the best one in her possession. Even if it looked no different from the rest of the canoes.

It wobbled a bit, but the young Ordonian was used to it and shifted his weight so that the boat did not overturn.

"As always," Iza said satisfied and handed Link a paddle. "Watch out for the rocks."

"Thank you! Can I ask you one more little favor? Could you have this note delivered to Telma in Castle Town?" He pulled a letter out of his pocket, which he had written quickly after breakfast while Iza was busy with the canoe and handed it to her.

"It's really important," he said as Iza glanced at the envelope.

Finally, she nodded: "Yeah, sure, I will! Just make sure you get down to Lake Hylia in one piece."

Link gratefully met her gaze once more before he pushed the canoe away from the jetty and steered it into the river current.

"Good luck!"

Enora waved goodbye to Iza before they disappeared around the first river bend.

The current was quite strong in the first part of the river and Link had a hard time avoiding the rocks rising from the water in front of them.

His companion watched with interest as the foaming waves slapped against the boat's sides and giggled as another gush of water splashed in her face.

Fortunately, the further they approached Lake Hylia, the weaker the current became. Slowly the high cliffs on either side of the river began to clear. The sky was cloudy, and the sun was hardly visible. It was as if it needed a little rest after the efforts of the previous, exceptionally sunny days.

Thanks to the noisy river, a conversation with Enora was almost impossible and so Link had enough time to contemplate.

At the lake they would have to dive deep down. He had already returned the Zora armor to its original location. Ironically, it was exactly where his destination was.

A heavy impact on the wooden boards and the subsequent staggering of the canoe brought his thoughts back into the boat. He pushed the paddle deeper into the water to prevent it from capsizing.

"Aaaaah! Help!"

Quickly he grabbed Enora who almost went overboard and pulled her towards him when something crashed into the canoe again.

"What was that?"

The Ordonian was trying to keep the boat steady with the paddle, but it kept swaying again and again.

A gush of water extended on the floor when the canoe almost tipped over and the edge had already tilted dangerously far to the water surface.

"Damn it!"

With his eyes Link checked the steep rock faces for a ledge where they were able to get to safety if necessary. Luckily, the boat calmed down.

"Is...is it gone?" Enora inquired cautiously and dared to look carefully over the edge of the boat.

Just as Link was about to nod, something crashed against the canoe and lifted it a few meters out of the water.

The passengers were ejected and soared through the air before splashing into the water in some distance. They were lucky they didn't hit the rocky surface of the cliffs.

The air was forced out of their lungs as Enora hit the surface and was immediately engulfed by water.

In panic she struggled to make it to the surface but was repeatedly hit by another wave and pulled down again. It didn't help that she had no idea how to swim.

She cried out for Link, but the calls died down in a gargling sound as her mouth was filled with water.

Then she felt a hand gripping her wrist tightly. Seconds later, she pushed her head through the water surface, anxiously clinging to her savior.

"That was a close one," she managed to spit out between coughs. Link held her tight.

The water was restless, but not only because of the current that was slowly carrying them downstream.

The Hylian looked around incessantly, one hand on the sword, the other wrapped around Enora.

A silhouette appeared next to them underwater and encircled them. Link did not let it out of his sight. Slowly the creature took on the form of a giant fish. It emerged from the water and dived down again just centimeters away from Link and Enora, its mouth opened wide ready to swallow them whole. Link swung his sword in its direction with lightning speed, but the blade bounced off the scales.

Fearful, Enora looked around.

"The canoe!"

Only a few planks drifted past them.

"That was Iza's best one," Enora cried. Link didn't go for it. They were attacked by a huge fish that was about to swallow them alive - what did he care about a broken canoe?

As the huge tail fin rose up beside them, Enora dug her fingers into Link's tunic. Just don't let go!

With a crash, the fin smashed back into the river and released a huge wave that grabbed Link and his partner and threw them against the rock face.

The young man was left breathless, yet he tried to find support in the sharp edges of the cliff. His sword fell into the water as his hand clung around a protruding rock and the other reached for Enora again. Her head had slammed against the wall and she had lost consciousness. Lifeless she hung from his arm. A small trickle of blood ran from her forehead over her temple.

"O Farore," Link moaned as he tried to climb up the wall, inevitably realizing that it wasn't that easy with only one hand. Below him, he heard the fish that kept jumping out of the water to give the Hylian his final blow. Luckily Link was high enough on the cliff, out of the fish's reach.

The wall trembled and Link's fingers slipped from the rock. He fell a bit but could catch himself. The wall trembled again.

The fish struck its tail forcefully against the rocks that rumbled under every blow of its gigantic tail fin.

Its black and blue scales glistened even though it was pitch black down in the gorge, and its piercing red eyes were inevitably locked onto Link.

There was no way he was dealing with a normal fish.

Something whizzed past Link's ear and hit the fish right in the eye. It reared up and dropped backwards into the water. Before it touched the surface, it broke into several small pieces that gradually formed into creatures.

The flying skin of their bat-like wings was half torn, yet they could still fly. Their bright red eyes focused the Ordonian as they came closer and closer. They pecked at him with their sharp pointed beaks.

Each of the blows was like a pinprick on his skin.

Link tried to get Enora and his face out of the enemy's reach by holding on tight to the rock face. Climbing further was impossible in this position.

Then the attackers retreated, and two strong claws clasped his shoulders. He was dragged away from the cliff. Struggling for grip, his bloody and cramped fingers slipped off the stone.

The black birds had disappeared, and he was sure they had changed back into something else.

Unlike expected, the bird creatures circled the cliff like vultures that examined a carcass from all sides.

The young man did not dare to look up to his rescuer - or enemy - but preferred to look at the reflection of some large silver being in the water below them.

Link no longer had the time to think about what it was. Slowly the exhaustion crept into his limbs. He struggled against the fatigue. His struggle was in vain...


	14. Chasing a Legend III: Zora's Treasure

"Am I dead?"

That was the first thing that went through his mind when he came around.

He heard the soft splash of a spring and felt the water surrounding his whole body.

Slowly he opened his eyes. Above him stretched a wide, clear starry sky.

He sighed as the feeling gradually returned to his limbs. Along with the memories of the canoe, the fish and the birds.

He looked around for a moment. As far as the darkness allowed, he could see a shallow lake that dropped down a small ledge a few meters in front of him and finally formed an even bigger lake. Stones decorated with lines and patterns stood in the water all over the area.

Immediately he recognized the spring of the light spirit Eldin in Kakariko. Who had brought them here? Was it that big, silver something? The image of the silver savior reflected in the water below him came to his mind. He hung helpless in its claws as was Enora.

Enora!

As if stung by a Ghoma he rose. Where was Enora?!

With quick glances around he searched the surroundings. Not too far away he discovered her blue skin shimmering in the water.

Quietly he moved over to her. His legs still felt a bit stiff, but otherwise he was apparently fine. Although the birds had attacked all the time, he had not been injured. Or the injuries had already been healed. After all, he had woken up in Eldin's spring and the water here was known for its healing powers. During his travels, Link had used it time and time again.

"Enora," he whispered as he sat down beside her and bent over her.

She opened her eyes with a start and wrapped her arms around Link while she buried her face in the wet fabric of his tunic.

"Link! I was scared!"

Surprised, he backed away but quickly regained his posture and soothingly stroked her hair.

"It's all right!"

At that moment he discovered something glittering on his wrist.

He raised his arm to look at it more closely. A string with several pearls attached to it was wrapped around his wrist. Each of the little white globes glowed dimly in a pale blue light. Where did he pick them up? Or more importantly, why was he wearing them on his wrist?

He couldn't think about it any longer, because Enora hugged him even tighter and raised her head to look at his face.

"Suddenly everything was black," she sobbed.

Link didn't answer at first, just kept stroking her head while he thought about how best to cheer her up - he'd have plenty of time to think about the beads later.

"Do you know where we are?"

Enora paused in her sobbing and shook her head silently.

"We're in Kakariko, which means our destination is not far away."

Immediately there was a glow in Enora's eyes when she jumped up and hopped around him as if nothing had happened. "We've got to get there quickly."

Link nodded and couldn't help but smile. He also got up and headed towards the village.

They had to be quiet. The Ordonian had no desire to explain Renado that despite their detour into the desert they had found out nothing about Enora yet.

First, they had to get out of the water. He signaled Enora to be quiet before he carefully crept to the ledge. There he slipped down and finally waded to the shore. The girl clung to his heels.

Quietly, they sneaked around Renado's house, behind which was the entrance to Kakariko Graveyard. From there a direct path led to Queen Rutela's tomb.

Like all graveyards, this one seemed even more eerie at night. The gravestones used every little ray of light to cast lively looking shadows and the wind rustled softly in the trees as if evil spirits were passing through their branches.

Link's and Enora's clothes were still wet, so they felt even the slightest breeze.

The change of season was already noticeable, days and nights were getting colder, and the trees were shedding their leaves, which now lay dried out on the ground, crunching under every step they took.

Link knew the way exactly. At the very back, between the two trees, there was a stone and behind it the tunnel to the grave of the royal Zora family.

"Link, there's someone there!"

The person addressed stopped abruptly when he heard Enora's voice and looked in the direction the girl was pointing, ears pricked.

An icy shiver ran down his back when he saw a ghostly figure sitting on the stone that covered the entrance to the Zora's tomb.

She watched them motionlessly with her clear blue eyes.

Suspicious! Link made no attempt to move on, but Enora walked past him as if it were the most normal thing in the world to see ghosts in a cemetery in the middle of the night. Maybe it was to her.

When the figure noticed Link's restraint, she smiled and waved him over with one hand. She shimmered blue in the faint light and something fin-like grew out of her forearms.

Link reluctantly followed the call and climbed the stairs to the elevated platform where the two trees and the stone in between were.

"I have been expecting you," the ghost spoke in a clear voice as she slowly rose and hovered towards the hero, observing him from all sides with a smile on her face.

"You have made me wait a long time. Unfortunately, too long. Look what I have become." She looked down at herself with regret in her voice.

Confused, Link followed the gaze over the delicate, almost transparent body, the fins on her arms and legs. He had no idea what the Zora - it certainly was a Zora - was talking about. As far as he could remember he had never met her before.

Unexpectedly she put a hand on his shoulder and looked deep into his eyes.

"You have come with a request, you will leave with knowledge." He returned her gaze earnestly until she could no longer control herself and started giggling for no seemingly reason. "I've always wanted to say that."

She whirled around and made the stone disappear in front of the entrance to the tomb with a clap of her hand.

"Follow me." She disappeared.

Link didn't think twice before crouching down and crawling through the small tunnel.

The Zora had made him curious and although it was not Queen Rutela, she seemed to be a member of the royal family, due to the aura of dignity around her.

When he straightened up, he found himself on a small platform surrounded by a pond.

Enora entered next to him and knocked the dirt off her clothes. She hadn't noticed the water when she arrived, but she did now, jumped up in the air, stormed to the edge of the isle and sat down - her feet dangling into the water.

Next to her, a silhouette approached underwater, pushed through the surface and supported herself with her elbows on the shore.

The Zora smiled at the Ordonian.

"Link," she whispered devoutly and closed her eyes. As if she were reliving old memories, a smile flashed around her lips.

She giggled as her eyes opened again. "I knew you would come to me eventually."

The Zora pushed off and swam briefly on her back before she dived and reappeared head first.

"I know what you must do."

Her body floated out of the water and glided just above the surface. Her fin-like feet gently touched the water, which immediately became still. A shimmering surface that slowly took on colors. The image spread out over the water, starting from the Zora's toes. Like a mirror, a scene built up - a gorge surrounded by high cliffs and filled with eerie creatures that flocked together in the middle of the valley. Something grew there - something big. Its image flared up on the surface of the water only briefly before it faded away with a flicker of the ghost's fin.

"What..." Link began, but he didn't say anything else. His memories returned to the night when the shadows had escaped from the Cave of Ordeals. Did they join forces to bring him down? Or to enslave Hyrule?

Immediately the giant fish came to his mind, and then the birds. Apparently, the shadows could take on any shape they wanted.

Enora watched him. She could clearly see what was going on inside him through the panic in his eyes. She too remembered the night when the monsters escaped.

She ducked her head guiltily when his eyes went dark.

"You must hurry," continued the Zora, and with another swipe of her fin a new image appeared.

The silhouette of a woman appeared. She had long brown hair worn in a pony tail. Around her slim figure lay several layers of dark purple fabric. Small white lights glimmered all over her clothes, around her neck and arms and in her hair. She turned her head and raised her folded hands in awe - then the scene stopped.

Three objects appeared around her. Two of them were nothing more than blurred shapes, but the third shone in a bright blue color.

"The three sacred stones." The Zora smiled. "You shall have the first one, but I must warn you." Her eyes became serious. "Once you hold it in your hands, it is within mortal's grasp. As you can probably guess, you're not the only one looking for it. Do not mention it to anyone," she continued emphatically.

She watched him and when he nodded affirmatively, she smiled.

Both palms pressed against each other, she mumbled a few words in a language Link didn't understand. It had to be Ancient Hylian. Link recognized the sound and melody of the language. Zelda had tried to teach him but he hadn't been interested in it. His time as a hero was over, so he had thought. He regretted his naive attitude. A wave rolled over the lake, briefly interrupting the image and finally breaking on the shore. A blue stone rose from the water – actually, it were three small stones connected by a golden frame.

"Zora's Sapphire," muttered the figure as she silently vanished into the water. "Take good care of it."

Enora watched Link curiously, who took the sapphire and stowed it in his bag.

Then he fell silent. The water glittered before him in the moonlight. Enora tugged at his tunic and he let her drag him to the tunnel.

As they crawled out of the hole on the side of Kakariko Graveyard Enora jumped excitedly all around him.

"We did it! That was a strange encounter, wasn't it?"

Link nodded as Enora continued to babble.

"She's always been like that."

Abruptly he stopped on the lowest step and eyed the girl at the top of the stairs.

"You know her," he inquired after a while of silence.

Afraid he would shout at her again, she lowered her gaze.

"That...that was Princess Ruto," she finally muttered loud enough for him to hear.

"Ruto," he repeated slowly as he searched his thoughts. Somehow, he knew her name. But how? Had he stumbled upon it while browsing through one of the books in the castle library? Or had Zelda told him about her?

"Link," Enora ripped him out of his thoughts. "Where shall we go now?"

He held on to his memory for a little longer, but it was no use. His gaze scurried to the horizon where a bright band was already visible. He wanted to have left Kakariko before sunrise. The probability of running into Renado increased with every passing minute. Although he didn't want to be ungrateful to the priest, he believed he had reached a point where he preferred to keep his adventure to himself.

In the glow of dawn, he unfolded the map of the golden wolf, orientated himself and finally tapped on a location in the East.

"It's best if we first go to Death Mountain. It is the marked area closest to our current position."

Enora nodded excitedly while she was already marching off towards Kakariko.

* * *

Who did recognize the Zora? Have a virtual cookie if you did. :)


	15. Chasing A Legend IV: Goron's Treasure

Accompanied by their loud screeches, shadows slithered over the sharp-edged cliffs, meeting in the middle of a clearing where several of the creatures met and scattered again, each time leaving a little bit of themselves behind. Little by little something grew there, took shape, its head was surrounded by bird-like creatures...

v~v*v~v*v~v

Link shook his head awkwardly. Did he doze off?

"Are you up?"

Enora had turned to him and looked at him with concern. She stood at the entrance of the small cave where the two had taken a short rest. The midday sun on her back made her blue skin shine like the ice of Snow Peaks.

He did not answer her question. He wanted to hold on to his dream, which was strongly reminding him of Ruto's vision.

It had been clear from the beginning that the shadows would join together, yet he could not explain their strange behavior. What were they up to? Create another two-headed bird? A giant predatory fish? Or worse?

"I am," he finally said when Enora looked at him impatiently. He got up on his feet while his companion had already climbed down the vines to the ground - as the cave entrance dug into the rock face a few meters above the path.

He followed his companion, and shortly after that they were back on the road to Death Mountain - the second marked area on the map.

Today it was strangely quiet here, not a single Goron in sight.

On the one hand, Link found it refreshing he didn't have to watch out to not be rolled over, but on the other hand it worried him. The fact that the Gorons were not pursuing their favorite sport could not mean anything good.

Worried, he lifted his gaze. The peak of Death Mountain towered over them in some distance. Dark clouds of smoke rose from its interior. The volcano hadn't been active for a long time and Link couldn't help thinking of the Goron prophecy.

i"I feel a strange aura about her. Watch her well and don't let her out of your sight. I don't feel comfortable with her," /i Gor Ebizo had warned him. Enora didn't seem to have noticed his mental absence yet, because she was happily climbing another rocky ledge.

While the girl walked ahead of him, he recalled the words of the fairy queen to disprove the Goron's warning once and for all.

i"Enora - as you call her - will accompany you. Only together can you accomplish your task and save Hyrule." /i

Could the queen have sent him - the savior of Hyrule - away with an evil being? He didn't think so.

A low hissing sound filled his ears. He did not hesitate for long, grabbed Enora by the arm and pulled her to him.

Only a second later, a hot jet of steam shot out of a small crater right next to where the girl had just been standing.

"You have to be careful, they're everywhere here," he warned her. She merely nodded, terror lining her face, before she set out once more to climb the mountain. Restless, she looked around before each step, which didn't really speed up the climb. Link didn't mind. If they arrived at night, the Gorons might not notice her intrusion - if they were at home at all.

Finally, they reached the foot of Death Mountain.

There was still no Goron in sight - the whole city was completely deserted.

Link reached over his shoulder and froze.

"Damn!" His sword! It wasn't there...and he only realized it now. He cursed himself as he remembered how it had fallen into the river.

What now? Without the sword, they had no weapon to defend themselves.

Enora didn't seem to have noticed the loss yet, for she had hurried ahead again and waved Link over.

Carefully and always looking around he followed her.

On their entire way, they met no Goron. There was not the slightest sign of life - not even a fly was buzzing around.

Finally they reached the room in front of the entrance to the mine - their last hope to meet somebody.

Link sighed as he saw no one there either.

"Now what?" he muttered to himself.

"Heeeellooooo," Enora shouted as she ran across the room, peeking into every crevice.

After a while she stopped: "Where's the mine?"

When she uttered her words, Link's eyes scurried to the place where the entrance should be, but there was only a wall of rock.

Why had they closed the mine?

Restlessly, Link shifted his weight from one leg to the other as he examined the wall. Previously, there had always been a switch somewhere to open the doors when they were locked.

Meanwhile, Enora had given up the search and settled on a boulder. Downhearted she watched Link's attempts to find the mechanism that opened the gate.

"What are we going to do now", she asked after a while and dangled her feet against the stone.

"We'll find something! Until now, fate had always provided me with the means to proceed. The Goddesses will help us," Link replied determinedly, but had paused to follow Enora's movement.

He began to grin.

"See?!"

He went to Enora, lifted her gently from the rock to place her on the ground next to him and finally pounded with his fist on various parts of the boulder.

The stone trembled before it grew and finally a head, two arms and two legs came out.

Confused, the Goron scratched his head before turning around to spot Link with a happy grin.

He looked strange, not like the other Gorons. It must be his posture, Link concluded. The stone eaters he knew had a stooped posture, but this one stood upright like a mountain.

"There you are at last, brother," greeted the Goron. "I've been waiting for you."

Link looked around for more Gorons, camouflaged as stones, in the hope of finding a stone eater he knew. He soon realized that the one before him was probably the only one present.

"Where are the others," he inquired.

The Goron nodded to the non-existent mine entrance. "They've gone into hiding."

Link felt his stomach cramping.

What could be so intimidating that it scared even the Gorons? He felt a little guilty thinking of Prince Ralis' request. What would become of the Zora if the enemy was truly so terrifying?

"I know what you're thinking, but know this: no matter what the danger, my people will always stand by your side."

The Goron opened his hand and held a red stone in a gold setting towards the young Hylian. "This is what you are looking for, the Goron's Ruby. Take good care of it."

The person addressed hesitated when Enora excitedly pulled on his tunic and jumped restlessly in one spot, while she pointed with one finger at the Goron: "Then you are ...".

"...Darunia, leader of the Gorons - at least I used to be," he finished her sentence and nodded.

Link eyed him briefly before he took the stone.

"Thank you," he said quickly and waited to see if Darunia would speak, but the Goron hesitated and pondered over his words.

He eventually continued: "I see you are wearing the sacred beads."

"Beads?" Enora looked up at Link. Her eyes fell - like Link's - on the bead chain on his wrist.

"I have such beads too," she said proudly, lifting her foot as high as she could. She lost her balance and fell over. Around the wrist was also a small chain of pearls, which hardly stood out from the blue skin.

"Cherish them, they are a gift to you." Darunia smiled encouragingly at Link. "Good luck in your quest."

With his hand raised in parting, he turned around and walked away towards the mine entrance. As if there was no wall there, he simply walked through it.

Link stared at the spot where the Goron had just disappeared.

"What do the beads mean", Enora wondered. He shrugged his shoulders clueless.

v~v*v~v*v~v

Only a few minutes later they were about to climb down the path to the valley. They had what they needed so there was no reason to stay there any longer.

The last sacred stone was still missing and - according to the map – it was located in the South of Hyrule, not far from Ordon.

The fastest way to get there would be on horseback. The only problem was that they had no horse. Epona was probably still with Telma. They'd better think in small steps for now.

First, they had to find a place to stay for the night, since the sky was already covered with heavy clouds, which ruled out a sudden onward journey.

They had no choice but to stop by Renado's house.

A little bit discontented, Link made his way through Kakariko while he tried to hide the beads on his wrist as much as possible under his bracer. Darunia had told him to cherish them, so he decided to keep them for the time being, especially since they didn't even bother him or gave him unpleasant pressure on his skin under the bracer.

The first raindrops fell from the sky when he knocked on the door that was opened by Renado shortly afterwards.

"Link? Enora?" Surprised, the priest let them in. He quickly closed the door behind them to lock out the cold of the approaching night. "Good to see you again."

The priest inspected the two guests.

"Did you find out anything about her?" he blurted out immediately.

Thoughtfully, Link eyed him.

"No," the Ordonian finally replied. "But we are close."

He was relieved when Renado's daughter Luda entered, for this prevented the priest from pursuing any further.

"Father, wouldn't you like to offer our guests something to eat," she inquired with a slightly admonishing undertone in her voice.

"Welcome Link, nice of you to drop by. We haven't seen each other for a long time," she finally greeted the hero.

Link nodded as he examined the girl. She still wore the same black short hairstyle and although only a few months had passed, she had grown half a head taller. Apart from that she still looked the same as she did at their last meeting.

"And you must be Enora? Father has told me about you," continued Renado's daughter, while she gazed at the girl with delight. "Pleased to meet you." She stretched out her hand but Link quickly shook his head and went between the two girls. He remembered all too well the previous times Enora had touched someone else.

Confused, Luda looked up at the young man. She had given up to see what was going on in the Ordonian mind, thus, she turned around and disappeared into the kitchen, only to reappear shortly afterwards with a fully loaded tray in her hand. White steam rose from one of the pots and the smell of soup filled the air.

Link's stomach growled. On his travels he rarely had warm food with him, let alone the time to prepare anything.

"Let's have dinner first. Afterwards you can tell me why you are here. Considering the weather you're surely in no hurry," Renado suggested and pointed to the window. Thick raindrops bounced against the pane and ran down the glass in small rivulets.

The young man nodded silently.


	16. Chasing A Legend V: Faron Woods

Rested and refreshed, Enora and Link continued their journey the next day.

Despite Renado's persuasive attempts to at least wait until Auru arrived with Epona, the two of them could not be slowed down. Their early departure was the only way to keep Renado from asking questions.

The sky was still dark and covered with heavy storm clouds, but at least the rain had stopped during the night.

With Epona, the journey would have taken a day; on foot, it would take them more than twice as long.

Somewhat discontented, Link lifted his gaze and looked up at the black and gray sky. With no sun, he didn't even know what time it was.

The young man stopped for a moment and scanned the horizon. If it started raining now, they would have nowhere to hide. Before and behind them lay only the wide grassy plain. They would also be at the mercy of bandits and the shadows. Renado's borrowed sword would probably not be suitable for defense for long.

Clatter of hooves made him turn around. Were the first robbers already approaching?

Relieved, he recognized the car of a merchant. The grey horse pricked up its ears with interest when its owner stopped it next to Link and Enora.

"Back on the road again, huh," the trader inquired in a good mood. "Where did you leave your horse?"

Link recognized him. He'd already headed south once, when he and Enora were on their way to Princess Zelda for the first time.

"She's with friends," he quickly replied. "Could you give us a ride?"

"Sure. Hop on, but don't break anything," said the carriage driver amusedly. "Did you fall into a bucket of blue paint," he turned to Enora, as she was about to jump onto the carriage.

Immediately she turned purple, retracted her head and crawled into the back of the carriage.

"Something like that", the Ordonian came to her aid. "I'm Link and this is Enora."

"Henry," replied the other one, and tapped his hat briefly before pushing his horse.

The animal trotted leisurely down the path heading south.

With Henry's help the journey went much faster, even though they had to drive carefully because of the sensitive goods.

As it turned out, Henry was a traveling salesman who offered goods from Hyrule in the surrounding countries and therefore had a lot to tell.

During the whole journey one story after the other bubbled over his lips. Link was very pleased with this, because it prevented the trader from having time to think about the two of them and to ask them questions.

When they had reached the Faron woods, the two travelers thankfully departed and the trader continued on his way.

Night had already fallen and Link thought it best to take a rest for the time being and continue the search the next day. Without light they would probably not be very successful - especially since the moon was still covered by thick clouds.

According to the map the last stone was not far away. In secret, Link was already looking forward to it. He became more and more curious about Enora's identity.

They set up camp at the edge of a clearing - not far from the poisonous swamp. While Link gathered firewood and lit a campfire, Enora rummaged through his bag and took out Renado's food package.

"Hey, what's that?" She pulled on a ribbon, at the end of which a horseshoe-shaped piece of wood hung.

Thoughtfully, Link came closer and took the object between his fingers.

"It's a flute," he replied curtly. Ilia had given him the instrument when she got her memory back.

Why hadn't he thought of it before? With it he could call Epona. No matter where Epona was, she would hear the melody. If he played the instrument now, the mare could be here the very next day - at least if she managed to break free.

Carefully he put the instrument to his lips and played the melody he was familiar with.

Enora listened with interest. When he had finished she clapped her hands enthusiastically.

"That was great! Is Epona coming?"

Link looked up in astonishment. How did she know... or had he just been thinking out loud? Yeah, that must be it.

He quickly put the instrument back in his bag, because the hunger became almost unbearable at the sight of the delicacies Enora had just spread out before him.

v~v*v~v*v~v

The night was icy and Link wished for the warm belly of his mare - and the saddle bag in which all their luggage and blankets were stored.

Back to back, the two travelers slept and didn't notice how the first rays of the sun unsuccessfully tried to make their way through the clouds.

Dark light enveloped Link when he awoke the next morning with stiff limbs.

He stretched and noticed that Enora, too, had just woken up and was also stretching, murmuring a sleepy "Morning".

"Let's get the stone today," she still hung on as she snuggled down on the floor again, but got up quickly. "Whoa, that's cold."

Link smirked.

"Get ready, we will definitely get the last stone today," he said confidently. " This is the largest area on the map compared to the other two. I know a little bit of the area, but I still think it will take us some time to find the stone. We'd better start searching as soon as possible."

Shortly afterwards they continued their journey. Using the well-known trick with the lamp, they crossed the poison marshes unharmed.

"Look out for anything that seems strange to you. ...like floating shadows or..."

"Like that?!" Enora pointed to the dark sky, where a silver stripe spread out. It draw small and large circles into the sky, as if it was waiting for something.

Link looked up at it as a bright flash illuminated the clouds in yellow light. Some time later thunder followed - the thunderstorm was yet far away.

Relieved, they continued on their way. Their joy had come too soon. Only a few minutes later a storm broke out.

Rain pattered in big drops on their heads.

"Come on, let's take shelter over there," Link suggested, pointing to a narrow path, at the end of which there was some sort of cave in the cliff.

Quickly they ran the last few meters and reached the shelter soaking wet.

"Soaked again," whined Enora and wasn't happy about it at didn't pay attention to her, but peered up to the sky. The silver shimmer had disappeared.

Contemplativly, he let himself slide down the cave wall and listened to the rain.

With this they could probably forget about their search for the time being.

It was simply the wrong season for that kind of trip. One should only do such a thing in summer, not in the late cold and rainy autumn.

The weather put an unpleasant strain on the mood, so Link decided to pass the time by exploring their hideout. He wasn't keen on meeting dangerous monsters, but sooner or later they would have to look for the stone here anyway.

Curiously they entered the large room that was hidden at the end of the tunnel.

"Welcome to the Forest Temple," Link proclaimed, trying to sound extra cheerful.

Except for some extra plants that grew around the walls and floor nothing had change since last time he was here. Except for the monsters that had disappeared.

A faint squeak made them look up, as a grey animal had already fizzled towards them.

A gray monkey jumped up and down excitedly in front of them. Its eyes were wide open in terror.

"You're a cute one," Enora whispered and bent down to the animal. It paused briefly to sniff at her fingers. Irritated, Enora stumbled back.

Its fur was dirty and covered in blood.

"Good to see you again! What happened," Link greeted the little one as he spotted the red flower on its ear. He could not remember that monkeys were carnivores. The only explanation for the monkey's condition was that something had taken up residence in the shrine - something dangerous.

Meanwhile, the monkey had started jumping up and down again and pointed to the exit of the tunnel.

"I think he wants to show you something," Enora remarked, watching Link who shook his head.

"I think he wants us to leave."

Suspiciously he looked at the dark passage that led further into the shrine.

Although everything in him was resisting and his instinct told him to leave, he quietly approached the corridor.

With each step, the monkey squealed more excitedly.

Enora grabbed Link's arm. "Let's get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps." Her eyes were fixated on something in the darkness in front of them, but he could not see what it was.

With one hand on the hilt of the sword, Link sneaked on, into the darkness, not knowing what was hiding behind it.

It was pitch black inside the temple, only Link's lamp lit the path around them.

Quiet shuffles filled the air as they approached the next room - the main hall.

Something in front of them moved and an unpleasant tingling sensation flashed through his left wrist. Link hid in a small gap, peeked around the corner - and froze ...


	17. Chasing A Legend VI: Kokiri's Treasure

Carefully he extinguished the lamp and reached for Enora's hand before he turned his gaze back to the chaos in front of him. He ignored the tingling sensation around his wrist.

Grey shreds of fur and blood were scattered across the clearing. Dozens of gruesome figures sat between them, watching several others screeching and screaming as they tore apart the carcass of a large ape.

Close by stood a small, green-haired girl dressed in green clothing. She was no older than Enora and watched the events mournfully. She hadn't noticed Link yet and the monsters didn't take any notice of her either.

Link took a small step forward to touch and warn her when the tip of his boot hit the wall and a small stone rolled down. It landed on the wooden walkway in front of him with a clung.

Immediately all faces turned to him.

He froze under the hostile looks of the monsters. Immediately he turned around on his heel and stormed off. Back down the tunnel and through the room they came from, Enora in tow. The exit was only a few meters away when a dark shadow built up in front of him.

"Dang", the young Ordonian cussed. He drew his sword with a clang and tore it through the air and the enemy.

The opponent only made a soft creaking sound before the cut merged together again seamlessly.

Grinning, the creature bowed its head down to the Hylian and breathed icy, smelly air into his face.

"Link!" Enora tugged at his sleeve anxiously.

The little girl from before appeared in front of them. It pointed into a dark corner of the room.

"That way," she whispered in a childlike voice.

The little monkey popped up in the darkness next to the girl and squeaked frightened. The animal drew the attention of the monsters. Link used this moment to escape. He grabbed Enora's arm and stormed through the mob of shadow creatures, straight towards the dark corner. The girl had disappeared again, but the monkey seemed to know exactly where it was heading to.

It turned around when Link was only a few meters away and disappeared into a secret passage between the rocks.

It was pitch black, but there was no time to light the lamp. Link felt the shadow creatures that were so close they could strike him in the very next second.

"Jump! Trust me," he heard the voice of the girl right in front of him, but he couldn't make her out in the darkness.

"Why 'jump'," he uttered panting. His question was answered by the sudden end of the path in front of him. The monkey had already disappeared.

Above him, the roof of the temple opened up and gave a clear view of the sky. The rain had stopped and in some places the clouds tore open to let some rays of light shine through. The wet ground and leaves glistened in the sun.

There was no time to stop. Last second he jumped off the edge of the ravine.

For a short time they seemed to float before losing height quickly. Enora clung tighter around Link's arm and buried her face in the fabric of the sleeve. Wooden arms wrapped themselves around them.

Two creatures, strongly resembling puppets, held them tightly in their grasp and set the two down safely on the other side of the gorge. There, Skull Kid played the same fast melody on his trumpet that Link and Enora knew from their previous encounter. Next to him the monkey jumped on the spot, sheer panic lining his face.

There was no time to linger, as the pursuers were also crossing the gorge - in the shape of black birds.

Skull Kid took Enora's hand and pulled her with him, into the dense forest of the Sacred Grove. Link and the monkey followed them.

"We have to be very quiet," Skull Kid muttered to the three of them, skidded to a halt and climbed a big tree right in front of him.

The impressive trunk reached a few meters straight up before splitting into several strong branches and forming a small platform. Between the branches lay all kinds of junk - broken bows, arrows without tips, blunt swords, even a large wooden shield.

Later on, Link couldn't remember how he had managed to climb the tree so quickly.

Well protected by the leaves of the tree and pressed to the ground of the platform, the group held out in complete silence.

Only a few seconds later, the shadows scurried across the forest floor. A particularly large one stopped directly under the tree and looked up its trunk.

The four of them held their breath.

The tingling sensation on Link's wrist grew stronger as the creature approached and slowly crawled up the tree trunk.

As the shadow's head almost reached their hiding spot, the green-haired girl appeared right in front of them. Her body radiated a green light and the shadow fell back with a shriek. Eventually, he vanished into nothingness. The whole forest was flooded with green light. The shrieks of the shadows gradually faded away as the girl turned around and smiled at Link.

"That was a close one, wasn't it?"

Link sighed in relief, sat up and took off his bracers - even though his wrist was no longer tingling. The beads glowed dimly - as before - and yet Link was sure that the tingling had come from them.

"What's wrong?" Enora inquired.

"Nothing, I just wan...did yours tingle as well," he wondered as he remembered that she was wearing similar beads.

She pondered for a moment.

"A little, but they often do."

Inquisitively, Link looked at the green-haired girl who had bent over his arm with interest.

"Everything's all right then," she reassured him. "Don't worry, it's a good thing."

"You're not going to tell us what they're for, are you?" Link asked hopefully.

"I don't know exactly. You'll have to ask the one who gave them to you."

She looked into his blue eyes and a slight blush appeared on her cheeks before she turned around and gazed sadly into the canopy of the tree.

"Who is it?"

The girl shrugged her shoulders and looked up into the sky through the canopy of leaves.

"The truth is, I'm here to give you something."

"The final stone", Link uttered thoughtfully.

Smiling again, she turned around.

"Yes. Actually, I was waiting for you in the temple, but there were all these shadows. Unfortunately, I hadn't noticed you until the shadows were already after you. I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention." She sadly scratched the wooden floor with the tip of her boot, her hands crossed behind her back.

"What were the shadows doing there?" Link fastened his bracers and stood up.

"Probably just having a little fun," she said mournfully, and her gaze flitted to the monkey, who was drooping his head gloomily. "They are lost souls who find their joy only in torturing others, tearing up their bodies and feasting on their blood. It makes them stronger."

Her eyes only showed sorrow and pain. What else had she seen? What else did she go through?

She sighed and raised her hand. A green light appeared and slowly formed into a circular stone in a golden setting.

"Here is the final stone, the Kokiri's Emerald. Go back to the Shrine of Eternity, but be careful. The darkness over Hyrule is growing ever denser." She took his hand in hers as if she wanted to say something else, but she changed her mind.

"Thank you, Saria," Link muttered.

The Kokiri smiled as her silhouette slowly vanished.

Enora looked at Link inquisitively.

"What's wrong?"

"You know her name," she said.

"She mentioned it earlier."

Enora did not reply. Instead she kept on staring at him skeptically.

"Let's go," Link dismissed her inquisitive questioning. Enora's gaze made him uncomfortable. He turned to the monkey and Skull Kid, who sat silently beside the pile of junk.

"Can you take us out of this place?"

Skull Kid jumped up and nodded, "Yeah, we'll get you out of here." With these words it leaped from the tree.

v~v*v~v*v~v

A few hours later Enora and Link had left the poisoned swamp behind.

"All we have to do is return to the shrine," the girl sung, hopping around the young Hylian.

"Yes, but we still don't have a horse," Link replied realistically. "I would say we go to Ordon first. That way we might as well check if everything is as it should be."

Enora nodded and turned around to face the road towards Ordon.

The sky had lost some of its uneasiness and shone in a clear but still chilly blue. Leaves rushed in the cool wind, which has pricked up coming from the north, as the two continued their way.

The sun stared down on them pale and powerlessly as they left Faron woods behind and crossed the bridge to Ordon.

The wind grew colder as the night drew nearer, making Link yearn ever more for his warm tree house. His tunic protected him from blows, but only partially from the cold. In Ordon, they'd equip themselves with blankets, that much was sure - and maybe Epona was there, too. He had played the flute some time ago, so she could have arrived there by now.

In semi-darkness they reached Link's tree house, climbed the ladder and settled down in the main room. It was still bitterly cold here, after all, no one had been home to provide pleasant warmth.

Link quickly lit a fire under the fireplace and hung a small kettle over the stove to heat water before he slipped out of his boots.

"Make yourself at home," he said invitingly to Enora and handed her a cup.

A few minutes later, they sat silently side by side in front of the fire, wrapped in warm blankets and sipping hot tea. Only the comforting crackling of the flames filled the silence of the room.

Link's tunic and Enora's dress were hanging over a chair to dry.

The flames danced in the fireplace and radiated a pleasant warmth - calming balm for the frozen and tired travelers.

"When we go to the shrine tomorrow...it means we have to go back to Durethel," Enora pondered loudly.

Link met her gaze. He took a sip from his damping cup before answering, "I know what you mean. I'm a little worried about him, too, but he seems to be the only one who knows a way to the Daughter of the Goddesses." He paused for a moment. "I guess he's just so creepy because he's... how shall I say?"

"...because he should be dead," Enora helped him out.

"And because he startled me," the Ordonian added with a nod.

For a while, they both watched the graceful dance of the flames that gnawed on the wood.

"Besides, he stinks."

v~v*v~v*v~v

An eerie figure crossed the nocturnal grove. Its broad shoulders touched the branches of trees standing close together. Its large feet crushed the undergrowth. Its strong arms snapped branches. Yet it was oddly quiet. Whoever this figure was, they were not from this world.

Yet they were searching for something. But what?

Several shadowy creatures surrounded them, but made no sound in the nightly silence that had spread around them.

Someone lunged at the creature. It narrowly avoided a throwing dagger and drove around, fixating the attacker with angry red eyes.

"Give up your hunt! You won't find him," the newcomer called out to the figure. Not much could be seen due to the darkness, but the newcomer had to be of slender form. He had taken up an attack posture, holding another dagger in front of his body.

The first one smiled arrogantly. This slim fellow wanted to take them on? Was that supposed to be a joke? They would snap his meager back in two like a dry straw and listen to his cries of agony with delight. But let's wait and see for now. Perhaps they had a future ally in front of them. Pitiful, but he'll be useful for something.

"Who are you to think you can give us orders," they replied spitefully instead, glancing at the shadows who were slowly approaching the attacker. The newcomer raised his right hand and a bright light shot towards them. It enveloped the trees in close proximity and throw long dark streaks into the forest. The shadows faded away until only the two warriors remained. Blinded, the taller of the two held their hands in front of their sharp-edged face that cast eerie shadows. Then they drove around and disappeared into the darkness.

"Don't think it would be so easy to stop me," their cry echoed through the grove. They had not expected magic. The slim guy definitely wasn't sympathetic towards them and they were still too weak to take on such strong light magic. They heard the attacker close behind them. Almost silently like a cat he scurried through the undergrowth.

Was he not of this world either? Was he also born from the shadows?


	18. Secret-Mongering

A timid knock at the door woke Link the next morning.

Sleepily, the Ordonian sat up and rubbed his back. He had put several blankets underneath, but the floor was still very uncomfortable. He couldn't explain it, but obviously it was much more uncomfortable sleeping on the floor of his hut than on the cold forest ground.

Enora was lying next to him and turned around half asleep, mumbling some incomprehensive words. Actually she should have been sleeping in the bed, but she must have sneaked down to him during the night. Link acknowledge it grumbling. He could have slept in the bed after all.

He slipped out from under blanket without disturbing the girl and sneaked to the door.

"Who is there," he whispered loud enough that the person on the other side could be able to hear him. Carefully he turned the knob. Before the door opened, someone fell around his neck. It was still dark outside, but the person had already given herself away by her enthusiastic greeting.

"Ilia?"

"Oh Link, you're back! I thought something happened to you. Moe came over and told us you went missing. I was worried sick especially after Epona showed up here all alone yesterday." The girl let go of him and looked into his eyes with delight. "Where were you? And how's Enora?"

Link scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, secretly trying to fix his hair, which was standing off in all directions after the uncomfortable night. It was even worse than usual. "Why don't you come in first?" he finally said, closed the door and offered his childhood friend a chair.

Meanwhile Enora was sitting on the floor yawning, still cuddled up in the blankets, looking at Ilia curiously.

"Well," Ilia demanded and didn't let Link out of her sight for one second.

"I had to check something out very quickly," he replied curtly to avoid her question.

"And so you just ran away without telling anyone?!" replied the daughter of the mayor indignantly. "What was so important?!"

Link fell into a chair next to her and let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry I can't tell you. It would only get you into trouble."

"Here he goes again." She rolled her eyes. "Does it have something to do with your other secret you won't tell me?"

Link immediately repulsed: "What? No!" That was probably a bit too fast and he saw Ilia already thinking about a snappy comment when Enora came to help him.

"Does anyone have something to eat," she inquired winningly. Link knew she was just saying that to change the subject and he gave her a grateful glance, but Ilia did not let herself be turned away that easily.

"Wait a minute," she said determinedly, before she turned to Link again.

"It has something to do with that Daughter of the Goddesses, doesn't it?"

Link's eyes widened and Enora also drew in the air sharply. Confirmed in her assumption, Ilia looked back and forth between the two. "So?"

"How do you know about this?" Link inquired. His voice was serious.

Reluctantly, Ilia looked at her hands. "I... I heard you ask Ordona for help."

"You have been spying on us?" Enora was clearly upset and looked half angry, half disappointed up at Ilia.

"I just want to help you, but you won't tell me anything," Ilia pleaded and tried to meet Link's stern gaze.

He pondered for a moment before bending over to her and whispering to her: "No matter what happens! Don't mention that. Not in front of anyone! Strange things happen in Hyrule and I don't know if it's safe here anymore. As soon as _they_ know that you know about it, _they_ could do who knows what horrible things to you."

Ilia nodded seemingly intimidated and swallowed. "Who are _they_?"

"Someone you would never want to meet in your whole life," Enora said with a look so dark that even the darkness itself would be terrified by it.

Link nodded in agreement. "Please listen to us, it's for your own good."

The tone in their voices let Ilia realize that they were serious and would not tolerate any backtalk. She nodded obediently.

The Ordonian searched for a spark of unruliness in her eyes, but she finally seemed understand the severity of the situation.

"You said Epona is here," the Ordonian switched the subject.

"Are you planning to leave again?"

"Yes, we still haven't found out about Enora's identity yet."

"Then I want to come, too," Ilia said determinedly.

"You're kidding?!"

his lady friend had her arms crossed in front of her chest and gave no indication that she was joking.

"This is too dangerous! You can't go," Link repeated.

This time Ilia pointed madly to Enora. "She's much younger than me, and she's allowed to come along. So why not me?"

Scratching the back of his head again, the Ordonian looked at his companion, but she was clueless of what to say, either.

"Well, so what?" Ilia tapped her foot on the floor impatiently.

"Well... um...", Link muttered, to give himself more time to think. "I want you to stay in Ordon because... because you got to make sure everything's all right here."

His childhood friend kept her foot down and looked at him skeptically. Eventually she sighed, but Link realized she was by no means convinced. "All right. But you must tell me everything when you come back."

Link nodded in relief. That was probably the lesser of two evils.

"Where will you go next," Ilia asked.

"Castle Town," Enora interfered and gave Link a glance that revealed something of her excitement and anticipation.

Ilia simply nodded before she got up from her chair and turned to the door, noticing Link's green tunic.

"Are you going to put it back on?" she asked slyly.

The Ordonian nodded hesitantly, readying himself mentally for his lady friend's next tantrum. It didn't come. Instead, she grabbed the garment and left the tree house.

"I'll get you something else," she exclaimed before the door fell shut. Link rushed after her, tore open the door and just saw her disappear around the bend towards the village. "Wait, Ilia! I need that," he shouted after her, but she was already too far away to hear.

"Oh wonderful...", he muttered upset, but couldn't really be angry with her. To be honest, he understood her a little. They were friends and friends shouldn't keep secrets from each other. He knew Ilia long enough to know that she cared about him deeply. That she wanted to be a part of his life. But he shut her out to protect her. Could she stand the fact that he had murdered? That he had turned into a shadow creature? She might not judge him, but she would look at him differently. And that's what Link was scared of.

It was similar this time. Link was once again involved in a conflict, the extent of which he had not yet been able to determine. He wanted to protect her and the whole village at all costs.

Sighing, he closed the door and began to clear his temporary bed and get ready to travel on. Enora watched him with interest as she sat cross-legged on a chair and swayed back and forth, humming.

After some time she stopped and looked at him from her clear blue eyes.

"Link?"

He looked up but did not stop. "Hmmm?"

"When we left the grove yesterday, didn't you feel like you were being followed?"

"Yesterday?" He stowed the last blanket in a chest, closed the lid and turned to her. "No, not that I know of."

Thoughtfully, Enora looked down on her lap where she kneaded her hands.

"What do you think was there," Link inquired, slowly gaining confidence in her powers of observation.

She didn't reply. He wondered if she had even heard the question when she jumped up and opened the door.

"Wuuaah..." Ilia rowed with her arms to keep her balance and not to tumble forward into the room. Found out, her gaze flitted back and forth. "Oh, thank you", she said to Enora and pretended she had just arrived.

Enora gave her a sour look and Link also eyed her suspiciously.

"Were you eavesdropping?"

"What? ...I... no... of course not", Ilia stammered while putting a pile of neatly folded clothes on the table.

"You have," Enora claimed energetically.

Ilia drove around and gave her the coldest look she could muster. "Well, thank you. And for that I nursed you back to health," she bawled at the girl loud enough that only Enora could hear.

"I wasn't sick at all," Enora hissed back just as quietly.

"Ilia", Link said worriedly. "Why are you so eager to know what's going on? You think I like keeping secrets from you? You have to understand. It's better if you know as little as possible."

The addressed person drooped her head in guilt. "I'm sorry, I just want to help you. You always go off on your own. It's me you've known the longest. We've been friends for as long as I can remember, and now everything is so different between us."

Link looked at her briefly before he closed the distance between them and comfortingly wrapped his arms around Ilia.

Curiously, Enora watched the scene before she finally went to the table and examined Ilia's bringings.

"Look, Link," she said happily, pulling out a pair of beige pants.

The young Ordonian looked up.

"This is for you," Ilia said quickly. "I bought it from a trader who passed by a few days ago. You're away so often, and so I thought, something to change might not be so bad. Except for your green tunic, you have nothing to go to town in."

Link gave her a delighted smile.

"You're the best! Staying here is the support I need."

She hesitated for a moment before she returned the smile.

v~v*v~v*v~v

They left as early as possible.

Link was now dressed in beige trousers and a dark brown tunic, which - unlike expected - were extremely comfortable and above all lighter than his green robe, which he had put on Epona's back.

The mare snorted contentedly, happy to have found her rider again and kept moving her head to the side to keep an eye on him.

Soothingly, the young Ordonian tapped her neck. Soon they would reach the Daughter of the Goddesses.

The edge of the forest was getting closer and closer and the plain was already peeking out between the tree trunks. The cold wind, which could not penetrate deeper into the forest, rushed through the leaves. Link's new tunic shut the cold out and kept him comfortable.

They didn't feel the warmth of the sun even while they crossed the plains. The sun hid behind some heavy clouds and was only visible every now and then.

Since leaving the grove, the travellers had not encountered any shadows or monsters. Once again Link wondered what they were up to.

Maybe the Daughter of the Goddesses knew about them. Either way, he would ask her about it.

Epona restlessly pricked up her ears as they crossed the plain outside the city. The broad stairs before them led directly to the main road of Castle Town, but Link took the path to the deep hole in the middle of the area. Again, they would take the path down there to reach the Shrine of Eternity.

Skilfully they climbed from the back of the mare who did not turn her gaze away from Link. She did not want to let the Hylian and his companion out of her sight for a second. When the two had disappeared over the edge, she trotted over and looked down with a loud whinny. Link waved his hand reassuringly. "We'll be back soon, I promise." He fervently hoped that he could keep this promise.

Enora and he climbed down the narrow path - as they had done the first time - and finally reached the cave where the Ordonian took one of the torches on the walls and they headed off into the darkness.

With a queasy feeling in their stomachs they approached the room of Durethel. The foul stench became stronger and stronger as the surreal light of the hall shone towards them.

Link carefully glanced across the room before venturing inside. Durethel stood immovably above the altar, staring into the void, just like the first time they had arrived down here.

"Link, something is wrong," Enora remarked, stopped and looked around the room before her gaze finally stopped over the eerie figure of Durethel.

The man addressed also looked at the half-rotten carcass. "Shall we rather turn back," he inquired, now likewise more restless than before.

Enora paused to consider.

"No", she replied confidently and walked the last few metres towards Durethel.

"We're back," Link raised his voice as he closed in on Enora and turned to the guardian as well.

The silence in the room was torn apart by a soft crackling sound. Slowly the creature rose.

Its eyes glowed in a poisonous green as it fixated the travelers.

"Do you have the stones", it began immediately without a greeting.

The girl nodded as the Ordonian took the three stones out of his bag and handed them over to the guardian.

The creature signaled to Link to put the stones on the altar. The young man did as he was told and placed them in the appropriate notches. A glaring light filled the room and cast shadows on the wall like eerie ghosts.


	19. The Shadows Grow Longer

Link held his hand in front of his face to block the blinding light. The glow faded and the three stones radiated only their own pure light just like before.

He glanced around, but nothing has happened.

Link gazed at Durethel. The creature stood motionlessly next to the altar not far from the Hylian. Then Link's gaze switched to Enora. She did not move, either.

The moment he whispered her name, a soft melody echoed from the walls, its soft tunes timidly filling the room.

The young man turned around but he couldn't make out where the melody came from. A silver mist spread around him. It engulfed him until the room was hidden from his sight. As far as his eyes could see there was only flowing silver light. It floated in the air as if it was water and fell apart into a thousand tiny dust particles when Link touched it.

A soft voice joined the melody, softly humming the high and deep tones. A blurred silhouette emerged from the dust around him.

"Link!"

He eyed the figure with a mixture of skepticism and curiosity. Even though it was hard to make out any details, he recognized the slender figure of a woman who had raised both arms to an instrument similar to a flute, on which she played the enchanting melody.

"Who are you", the Ordonian whispered. He did not dare to speak up, out of fear of scaring the person in front of him away.

She didn't move, just kept on playing her instrument.

Wordlessly Link listened to the melody, not knowing what else to do. For some inexplicable reason the song sounded comfortingly in his ears he felt at easy. It was a feeling as if Enora was embracing him – but even stronger.

Wordlessly, he watched the elegant fingers that rose and lowered swiftly yet gently, and listened to the tones that formed as a result. The melody slowly clouded his mind and thoughts.

"You have found the three sacred stones", the quiet voice began after a while without interrupting the song. Was it the woman who spoke?

"But to reach me you need something else..." The voice echoed in his head. "...a fourth key, without which the three stones are useless."

She remained silent for a short moment, but the melody did not pause. "The Ocarina of Time."

"The Ocarina of Time," he repeated in a whisper. He had heard of it somewhere before - if only he could remember where.

He was pulled from his thoughts as the person went on.

"Find it and the path to me will be opened."

The sentence stirred something in his mind.

"Are you the Daughter of the Goddesses? Please, can you te..."

"There's no time," she replied. "You will receive the answers to your questions, but only after you have passed this final test."

He nodded, even though he didn't quite agree. There was nothing else he could do but to follow her plea.

She just kept on playing her melody, which - as Link gradually realized - had something sad in it as well as a sense of comfort.

"Strange things are happening in Hyrule. Shadowy figures roam the plains," she continued after a while. "The line between friend and foe is gradually blurring... be careful who you trust."

"What do you mean," Link replied briskly, as the melody slowly lost its intensity and the figure in front of him faded away.

The answer did not come.

When the silver shimmer had completely disappeared, his gaze wandered back to Durethel and Enora, both awakening from their rigidity.

The girl looked at him suspiciously, as if she knew something had been going on.

Durethel was unaffected by all this. Angrily, he stamped his foot and whipped his carcass tail over the floor.

"Curses," he cussed. "Why doesn't this work?!"

Cautiously Link approached him. "Maybe we need something else," he said. "I heard something about an Ocarina."

The guardian spun around and observed the hero. There was more than anger in his gaze. Something more profound than Link would ever have expected from such a creature.

"And where is that Ocarina," he hissed, but the young Ordonian could only shrug his shoulders.

"I don't know, but I'll find it," he promised before turning around and giving Enora a signal to leave the room.

Durethel watched them as they disappeared in the tunnel leading outside. His eyes mirrored nothing but suspicion. "He knows more than he admits," he whispered to himself before he sat down behind the altar and froze in his pose.

v~v*v~v*v~v

Link dragged Enora back through the tunnel towards the sunlight. All the way he wondered where he'd heard about the Ocarina before. "The Ocarina of Time," he murmured softly to himself as he climbed out of the pit and back onto the plain.

The sunlight dazzled his eyes until they adjusted.

Snuffling, Epona came closer and laid back her ears. Apparently, the decaying smell of the guardian still clung to Link.

"It's alright," he whispered to the mare and gently caressed her nostrils. She seemed to have come to terms with the smell, for she was already lowering her head and plucked a tuft of grass at Link's feet.

Again and again he searched his mind, trying to find the solution to the mystery of the Ocarina, when he noticed Enora staring stubbornly at a spot on the castle wall.

"What's wrong?" he inquired, but Enora did not avert her gaze. Her eyes narrowed to slits as she remained motionlessly.

"We're being watched", she finally whispered.

Her companion also searched the wall, but before he could find anything, Enora relaxed and started jumping around Epona's legs.

Confused, Link turned away. What should he make of this?

"Well, what are we going to do now," the girl wondered and dropped into the grass next to Epona. The mare snorted angrily and tried to drive the troublemaker away from her food. Enora giggled as the mare's tiny whiskers tickled her face.

"We need the Ocarina of Time," Link explained briefly.

"Oh? Zelda has it." Enora plucked a blade of grass and held it out to the mare, but the latter ignored the friendly gesture offended.

The young Ordonian did not even ask how Enora knew. She probably couldn't tell him anyway. As always.

"Well then, let's go," he decided, turning towards the town gates.

Happily, Enora jumped up and hopped forward, climbed the stone steps and entered the busy street.

Epona twitched her ear only slightly, but decided to stay on the plain and tend to a spot of particularly tasty grass.

Without giving even the slightest impression of being in a hurry, the travelers followed the main street and reached the castle by the fastest route.

Link's wrist was tingling as they pushed their way through the crowd on the streets. He tried his best to ignore it, though, he couldn't help but wonder why the tingling was back. The people around him all seemed to be calmly going about their work. Was it a false alarm? He could not dismiss the possibility. Ignoring it was probably the best option for now.

The guard at the castle gate let them in without protest and so they entered the large structure.

Some maids were running around, carrying large trays, vases and all kinds of other objects.

This was not the usual hustle and bustle. Was there a festival planned? The Ordonian looked around wonderingly while he walked the usual way to the throne room.

A guard met him and gave him a nod before he entered the great hall, at the end of which the throne stood, crowned by the statue of the goddesses.

"Link," Zelda greeted and signaled him to come closer. A maid with long black hair stood beside her and handed her a tray with a jug of water and a cup.

"What brings you here?"

Link simply nodded as a greeting. Zelda seemed to be more formal towards him all of a sudden. Link dismissed the thought and assumed it was because of the presence of the servant.

"Zelda, I need your help. It's still about...you know what," Link said with a quick glance at the servant.

With a wave of her hand, the princess sent the maid away as her guest crossed the room.

"Errr... yes, of course," Zelda replied hesitantly, but Link went on. "I need the Ocarina of Time."

CLANK! The clatter made him turn around, so he didn't see Zelda's eyes widen in surprise.

The maid was crouching on the floor, a pile of broken glass in front of her. Her face turned crimson when she noticed Link's gaze upon her. "I'm sorry!" She quickly gathered up her dress to get out of the room, probably looking for a broom and a cloth.

"Come back immediately and clean that up," sounded an irritated voice, before a somewhat chubby brown-haired woman appeared in the doorway and nodded apologetically to Zelda. "Pardon me, Your Highness. We'll get right on it. Please, you mustn't be disturbed by us. It won't happen again."

The princess signaled indulgence and turned towards Link.

"The ocarina? Where is it?"

"I hoped you could tell me that. ... - I know you said you didn't know where it was, but maybe you could check that book you found the other day."

"The book..." she pondered, detecting Link's inquiring gaze and quickly added: "Yes, of course".

"Aren't you feeling good?" Link inquired worriedly but the princess shook her head.

"It's all right, don't worry. I'm afraid I'm a little shaken, that's all. The shadows in Hyrule deprive me of sleep and I don't have a single moment to relax."

Link nodded understandingly.

"You go on ahead, I'll be right behind you," she suggested and put a hand on her forehead, moaning. "I just need a second."

The Hylian turned around and left the room.

Just when the door behind him had fallen shut, Enora joined him. Only now did he notice that she was not in the throne room at all.

"What did she say", she asked skeptically and wrinkled her brow. Before Link could answer, the maid from earlier on appeared again. She threw him a quick glance, stumbled over her own feet in the process, and landed on her backside with a high painful scream escaping her. The broom slipped from her hand and the handle fell on her head. "Ow."

Immediately the Ordonian was there to help her up.

"You better watch where you're going," he admonished her friendly as she stood firmly on her feet again.

"I'm sorry," she murmured somewhat dazed. She looked around in all directions before looking conspiratorially into Link's eyes - only briefly, but long enough to make him feel uneasy.

She hastily picked up the broom and disappeared into the throne room.

"That was odd," Link commented, and spotted a note lying on the floor where the maid had stood earlier. His name was on the top of the note written in Zelda's delicate handwriting.

He was about to pick up the piece of paper when Enora pulled on his brown tunic and looked at him anxiously. "Let's get out of here quickly. There's something I don't like about this place."

Unsettled, Link looked around. Should shadows be hiding in the castle? He felt evil eyes staring at him from all sides. Or was he just imagining it? Was the tingling sensation on his wrist a warning after all? He had ignored it the whole time...

With a dreadful feeling in his guts, he picked up the note before they scurried off into a dark side corridor. Here they were unobserved. Or so the orderly hoped.

He turned the paper towards the light, unfolded it and read the words written in Zelda's fine and elegant handwriting:

"_Leave the castle as quickly as possible. Speak to no one._

_Go to the secret meeting place_."

Below the text was a roughly outlined sketch of Castle Town. It had probably been doodled rather quickly, as the lines were rugged and edgy.

"What the...?"


	20. Everything Changed

Link stood in the darkness staring at the piece of paper in his hands. His thoughts were spiraling.

It made no sense!

Enora looked at him curiously. She kept looking around, though, as if a horde of bulblins could appear at any moment, pounce on them and tear them to tiny shreds. Finally she tugged at Link's tunic again. Her eyes wide open, her body trembling with fear.

"Let's leave," she begged, trying to push her partner back to the main entrance.

Link quickly shoved the letter into his pocket. He was completely overwhelmed by the situation and let the girl walk him out of the castle without resistance. Enora finally calmed down again after they had left the castle grounds and entered the city through the large gateway.

Still trembling, she looked back, took a deep, relieved breath and turned to the Ordonian.

"That was a close one," she said and forced herself to a smile, although, fear was obviously still stuck within every bone in her body.

Exhausted, the young man let himself fall onto a garden wall at the side of the walkway. The wall framed a pretty flowerbed, in which strange-looking flowers with small red blossoms presented their colors one last time before winter would rob them of their vitality.

"What's the matter," his partner asked anxiously. The Hylian only shook his head before fishing Zelda's letter out of his pocket.

"What was there in the castle," he asked thoughtfully as he looked at the sketched map.

"I don't know for sure. Something just felt not right."

"Do you think there are shadows hiding in the castle?"

Enora shrugged clueless. "I don't know. To be honest, it felt slightly different from the shadows."

"Hmmm." Link turned the paper over and over again as if the answers to his questions were written somewhere on it. They weren't. Eventually his gaze returned to the roughly outlined map.

"I don't suppose we have any choice but to visit this place." He stood up and orientate himself on the map, before he started walking, Enora in tow.

The streets had become a bit quieter by now, for night was gradually coming.

It was getting harder and harder to decipher the map as the darkness passed over them and the street lights didn't provided enough light. At last Link found the house marked with a big X on the map. A little run-down - like all the houses in the slums - it stood in line with several others and was in no way different from them. The Hylian knocked tentatively on the shabby brown wooden door.

From inside came a soft rumbling before the door was gently pulled open just a bit such that a pair of brown eyes could have a look at the visitors. The person behind the door looked around to both sides before letting the Ordonian and his companion in.

They were standing in a dark hallway. A single door led into a neighboring room and a staircase gave access to the upper floor, from where soft coughs could be heard. The corridor was completely barren. The dirty planks on the floor had been worn out by many feet and the empty walls radiated an uncomfortable coldness.

"My Goddesses," whispered a horrified female voice. It was difficult to spot something in the darkness. It was enough to see that the housekeeper was of small and slim shape and wore a long dress. She clearly was unsettled and shoved Link and Enora into the neighboring room and followed after.

There was not much in this room either: a faded and frayed carpet lay on the floor. An old wardrobe stood in a corner with its doors hanging crookedly only held by a makeshift rope. Next to it was a table, one leg of which was supported with books, yet it still gave the impression that it would tip over at the slightest nudge.

The light of several candles fell on the pale face of a girl with long black hair and light brown eyes - the maid from before in the castle.

"I hope nobody saw you," she said in a low voice as she closed the door behind her.

Link held the letter out to her. It was written all over his face that he immediately asked for an explanation.

The maid flinched as if he had beaten her, lowered her head and whispered. "I'm sorry."

She took a short breath.

"Before you go mad, listen to me. I have nothing to do with this. I woke up one morning and there was a letter on my desk." She pointed to the table that was struggling for balance. "...along with this."

She went to the cupboard, loosened the rope and opened the door, which immediately snapped off its hinges. She hopped to the side to keep her toes safe. "I'm sorry," she promptly uttered.

When she had recovered, she retrieved a small wooden box decorated with silver ornaments and symbols. One of them was clearly the Triforce. She handed the item over to Link. However, she couldn't do this without almost tripping over a carpet crease.

"I couldn't open it. Maybe you know what to do with it," she mumbled and watched the Ordonian timidly. She couldn't hide her curiosity.

Link grabbed the box quickly before the maid had a chance to drop it by mistake. The back of his hand started to tingle unpleasantly. Was the Triforce mark reacting to the box? A faint click told him that the lock of the box had opened. Interesting mechanism!

Very gently he opened the lid.

A small, sky-blue instrument, bedded in a soft, red cushion, was revealed. The instrument looked like a large egg. A golden Triforce was engraved in the mouthpiece.

"The Ocarina of Time", Enora awed. Link glanced at it in amazement. He knew ocarinas and this one clearly looked like one. Could Enora be right?

"How comes you have it?" the Ordonian inquired.

The black-haired girl blushed immediately. "I-I-I didn't steal it, if that's what you're implying. As I said, it was on my desk, along with a letter."

To prove this, she took a crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket, which had definitely seen better days.

She handed it over to him with a quick nod.

Tenderly he unfolded the paper and discovered the same handwriting as in the other letter. Zelda's handwriting. Part of it was already illegible.

_"Dear Effi,_

_You're probably the only person left who I can trust._

_I need your help!_

_There is an object in this box that must not fall into the wrong hands under any circumstances._

_Sir Link needs it, but unfortunately, I could not give it to him myself._

_Have the enclosed letter discreetly delivered to him and he will come and see you._

_Do not speak of this to anyone. And do not return to the castle after Sir Link's visit._

_You have my thanks!"_

"I don't know who this is from, but I suspect it's from her Highness, Princess Zelda," the girl replied sheepishly.

Link nodded, returned the letter to her and carefully took the ocarina out of the box, discovering another white piece of paper lying under the ocarina on the pillow.

"Another letter," he muttered as he carefully took the piece of paper ahd put the instrument back.

_"Dear Link, dear Enora,_

_I see Effi has given you the Ocarina of Time._

_After you left for Ordon the other night night the castle was infiltrated by shadows. I don't think anyone but me noticed. Most of the servants have already been replaced by impostors._

_There's nothing I can do but to flee._

_I write these lines in haste._

_The enemy is yet too weak to cause harm to anyone but they will grow stronger quickly. I am sorry to ask this of you again, Link, but Hyrule needs you._

_Our top priority is the safety of the people. Do not look for me. It is safer if we go our separate ways for now._

_Do not worry, our paths will cross again. I will find you._

_My wishes and hopes are with you!_

_Zelda"_

"I guess it makes sense now," muttered Link as his eyes fell on the maid. 'And at the same time, it doesn't,' he added in his mind.

"Effi, isn't it?"

The black-haired girl blushed again. "Y-y-yes?"

"Have you noticed anything unusual around the castle?"

"The castle?" She pondered for a moment. "Well, not really. Princess Zelda is suddenly behaving differently and has some very strange-looking people over. Sometimes I'm not even sure if they're people at all. They do look rather weird."

She stared at Link and quickly added: "I'm sorry. None of this is my business, of course. Please forgive my imprudence."

Link didn't comment on her statement. He preferred honesty over etiquette. His eyes met Enora's. Her gaze emitted the same feeling he felt in his stomach.

The enemies had occupied the castle without the people noticing, Zelda had fled and an impostor had taken the throne. That was a hard pill to swallow.

"Thank you, Effi," Link said and gave her a grateful nod. "Dark times are coming upon us. Be on your guard!"

He put the ocarina back into the box and took it under his arm before turning towards the door.

Soon after, Enora and Link had left the house and were walking through the dark alleys.

No one was to be seen and yet Link had the feeling of being watched.

Of course, now that Zelda was gone, he could only imagine it.

Their situation had changed completely all of a sudden.

"We're going to Telma's," Link whispered to his partner as they headed into the little back alley.

With a queasy feeling, he knocked on the door of the inn, hoping fervently Telma would open.

He did not have to wait long as the chubby woman let them in only a few heartbeats later. Judging by her face, she was surprised but relieved. Who could blame her?

"Link, I'm so glad you're all right," she began. "What happened? Suddenly you were gone and a few days later a letter came saying you were with the Zora and..."

The Ordonian interrupted her and looked around the empty inn. Apparently, business had been going badly since the people had noticed that the monsters were back on the loose and that it was no longer safe at night.

"Are the others here?"

Telma shook her head, knowing who Link was referring to. "Rusl's in Ordon, Rauru and Shad are in Kakariko, and Ashey wanted to go to Zora's domain."

"Dang," Link whispered, but Thelma nodded encouragingly at him as she settled down in a chair, ready to listen to him.

v~v*v~v*v~v

A book slammed against the wall of the library, slid to the floor and landed on a pile of books that had met the same fate.

Zelda pulled the next one from the shelf, flipped through the pages and hurled it against the wall as well. She grabbed the next book.

"Damn it! Which one is it?"

"What are you getting so upset about", another voice sounded. A tall, slim person who - half hidden in the dark - was leaning against the shelf, watched the princess with a frosty expression. "Neither of them knew where she is."

"You're underestimating our enemies, Xera," Zelda barked at the woman as she paused briefly in her endeavor. "They may seem weak, but that doesn't mean they are."

Xera laughed coldly. "Surely you're not trying to tell me that Zelda can still be dangerous to us. Or even that goatherd boy. The goddesses have long abandoned him. As if he could touch a single hair on our heads."

"If he finds the ocarina, he will!"

Xera took a step towards the impostor princess. Xera's pale face was partly illuminated by a candle. Her fiery red hair looked like a flame in the flickering light. The sharp facial features cast deep shadows on her cheeks and eyes. She surely was an eerie view.

"If you so desire, I'll keep the boy away from you." With that Xera left towards the door. "Let's have dinner first, though."


	21. The Ocarina of Time I: In Jeopardy

Restlessly Link turned from one side to the other. Even though the bed in the room Telma had assigned to him was warm and soft, he could not fall sleep. Something troubled him.

Their whole endeavor seemed much more complicated to him than it had been a few hours ago. Zelda had disappeared and the shadows had settled in the castle. The only glimmer of hope at the moment was that meeting the Daughter of the Goddesses was within reach. Unless Link and Enora needed another magical item. Link sighed and prayed inwardly to the goddesses that this was not the case.

He heard Enora's steady breathing beside him and opened his eyes.

Everything around him was black. The moon provided barely enough light to illuminate the rooftops of the houses in front of the window. There was no light to fill the room.

He didn't know how long he was lying there, for the darkness had made him lose all sense of time when he heard a faint sob.

"Enora," he whispered and sat up to look into her eyes. Despite the darkness her eyes shone towards him like two blue beacons.

"They are coming... already very close...looking for us...betrayal", she murmured, croaked and in a strangely high pitched voice.

Link pricked his ears. Enora had always acted strangely, but this was a whole new level of strange even for her and it made his hair stand on end.

"Enora, are you alright?"

She shook her head and the blue beacons disappeared after closing her eyes for a moment.

"Link! We have to leave!"

A knock woke up Telma, who had only a light sleep so early in the morning.

Half asleep, she grabbed her lamp, lit the small flame and finally got up.

"Dear Nayru, who's out so early in the morning," she groaned softly as she shuffled down the stairs.

There was another knock. This time more intently and louder.

"I'm coming," the landlady exclaimed before she fumbled at the lock.

The door swung open and a tall woman appeared in the door frame, behind her gathered a small group of tired soldiers.

"At last," she said coldly and Telma got the urge to close the door again, but the visitor has already entered the room.

The newcomer wore a long and dark gray hooded cloak. Some blood-red spots shimmered in the light of the lamp. The body was completely covered by the fabric, though, judging by the slender figure it must be a woman. Only a pointed chin, red eyes and spiky hair was visible under her hood.

"I have a message for Sir Link," she began immediately. "I demand to know where he is."

Telma gulped unsettled by the intimidating appearance. A message for Link? The landlady mustered the guest. There's no way this was a good thing. She remembered what Link had told her.

'Dang! Link is in danger,' she cussed in her mind. She remained as calm as she could muster and spoke clearly: "There's no one here who's name is Link."

The eyes of the stranger narrowed to horizontal slits. "Reliable sources have told me that he arrived here last night. You know he's here, right?"

The gaze sent an icy chill down Telma's spine. Adrenaline shot into her veins.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I politely ask you to leave my bar immediately," she replied, not quite managing to suppress the slight trembling in her voice any longer.

The woman did not answer, but was already walking up the stairs, closely follow by the landlady who didn't wast a second to catch up with the mysterious figure.

"There is no one named Link in this place," she started another attempt, but only got a sore look that silenced her.

As if she knew where the Ordonian was, the woman in the cape headed straight for the door behind which he and Enora were peacefully slumbering.

Restlessly, Telma shifted her weight from one foot to the other and sent multiple prayers to the goddesses that Link and Enora just happened to be absent.

The unwelcomed guest noticed this with a smirk. It only confirmed her assumption. Thin fingers wrapped around the door handle before she pushed open the door.

The room was empty. The sheets were scattered on the floor.

Narrowing her eyes to slits her gaze wandered across the room. There was no one here, no mind that she could read.

"He's gone," she concluded.

'Yet this landlady was so sure he was here. She let him in after all.' She clenched her fists, but immediately eased up again. 'Whatever. I'll find him!'

She turned around, ready to leave, as her gaze fell on an opening in the wall, which was a few meters from the floor. Directly below it was a table, and next to the table was a broken glass. Water slowly crawled across the stone floor.

The woman grinned as she crossed the room in one huge leap and landed on the edge of the opening, elegantly like a cat. She stuck her head into the musty air to listen.

Water splashed a few meters below her...

She listened even closer.

There! Footsteps!

Just as she had thought.

With an arrogant grin on her face she let herself slide down into the darkness that lay behing the opening.

'That was a close call', Link thought again and again as he struggled to find his footing on the slippery surface.

Just before Telma had hurried down the stairs, the Ordonian had managed to escape with Enora into the shaft that led directly into the sewers. A secret passageway Link happened to know about.

They escaped, but that didn't mean they were safe yet. Their biggest concern was to get out of here as fast as possible. It was well known that the underground passages were not the safest place in Hyrule and the place was swarming with nasty creatures. There were also rumors that it was haunted by ghosts, which, as Link knew, was actually true.

A cold breeze indicated a small side corridor, from which dirty water flowed into the main tunnel, which Link and Enora followed.

Far behind them, something splashed into the water.

"They're coming," whispered Enora and the Ordonian hastened his steps.

In some distance the hollow sound of clattering heels was echoing from the barren walls. The pursuer seemed to be alone, but he or she was in no hurry, for the steps were slow and yet they seemed more threatening than anything he had ever heard before.

The darkness in front of him grew thicker with every step and no matter how fast he ran, the steps of the pursuer echoed loudly in his head.

Again they passed a junction and Link considered for a second if they could hide in it, but he quickly dismissed the idea.

The footsteps faded away. An eerie silence lingered in the tunnel. Only the ripple of the water still reached Link's ears. Despite the silence, the Ordonian did not slow down his steps.

Enora stumbled. Link responded quickly, grabbed her elbow and dragged her along.

At this very moment, something red lunged at him. Almost at the same time, something blue flashed up and threw itself on the red creature. Both landed in the stinking sewer water.

A golden shimmer, closely followed by a silver one, glided over the walls of the tunnel and disappeared in the same instant.

Cold fingers grabbed Link's wrist and dragged him into the water.

He had just enough time to catch his breath when he was pulled down under the surface. Enora clung to his other arm, eyelids pressed together anxiously.

The Ordonian flailed around wildly. After a blow to its cold fingers, the creature let go of him. Link rowed against the strong current that carried him away mercilessly.

Coughing he pushed through the surface and Enora gasped for breath beside him.

Another wave forced both of them under water.

The current became stronger. Then the water fell down, pulling him into the abyss.

Link lost his orientation in the turbulence, no longer knowing where up and down was.

His lungs contracted and he opened his mouth. He tasted nothing but rotten water on his tongue. No air to fill his lungs with.

He dimly felt something clinging to his chest and dragging him through the water.

Everything happened so fast, he couldn't process the events.

Eventually, he climbed up a shore. A puddle of brownish water spread out in front of him as he dropped onto his back in exhaustion and spit out disgusting brown water. He still had the foul taste on his tongue and fought the urge to vomit. He wiped the wet hair from his face.

When his breath had calmed down somewhat, the Ordonian sat up. He was still in the sewers, but this room here was wide and circular. A stone path, just touching the undulating surface, surrounded the water basin and flanked the rough wall.

His gaze fell on a Zora that was bending over Enora and apparently watched her.

Somehow she was different from the other Zora. Blonde, wet hair fell over her back, which was covered by a short, white dress.

When she noticed Link was awake she gave him a friendly smile. She lifted Enora onto her arms and walked to a passageway that was the only exit from the room - except for a hole far above them, from which a jet of water shot down into the pool.

Still a little dazed, he got up and followed her.

The splashing behind him became quieter the further he followed the Zora. Although there was hardly any light here, her white dress shone in the darkness and showed him the way. Her steps were soft. On the cold stone floor they sounded much more like the splashing of water than steps.

The walls of the tunnel became more and more ridged and sharper, and it soon became clear to Link that they were no longer below Castle Town.

A bright light shone before him as the Zora paused and bent down.

A crystal clear lake spread out directly in front of her. The water wasn't deep such that one could see the stones on the ground. The waves broke the light and painted patterns on the ceiling. It all seemed like it came right out of a dream.

Enora sat down next to the Zora, coughed and drank a few sips of the crystal clear water.

She felt better immediately and she waved Link over.

Quickly the Ordonian joined them.

"Drink", the Zora smiled and handed him a small bowl.

With every sip Link felt stronger and the taste of the dirty water was rinsed from his tongue.

"Thank you," he said as he returned the bowl. "What's your name?"

The Zora hasn't heard his question. Or didn't want to reply.

"That was pretty close," she said instead and held her arm in the water. A deep cut ran across her forearm. Blood was pouring out of the wound. "I'm afraid you won't be so lucky next time. The enemies are strong."

Link nodded thoughtfully. "You seem to know a lot about it."

"Only what I was told..." Slowly she let her body slide into the lake. "...and it wasn't much. Actually, I'm here to teach you something."

She rose and stood upright in the pool with her thighs only halfway covered by the water. "Zelda has sent you something."

The Ordonian immediately remembered. "The ocarina?"

The girl nodded while Enora jumped up and down excitedly. "Does that mean you know how to play it?"

"Actually, it's quite simple," she said, walking towards Link, who had just taken the instrument out of his pocket. She took the instrument from his hand.

"This is how you play it."

* * *

Sorry for late chapter, I was busy last week and totally forgot about it. :)

So here it is. Hope I can upload another one next week, though, still super busy so not sure.

Also: I've replied to all comments I've gotten so far but I've never got a message back so I just would like to know if any of you received a reply or not. I think fanfiction net isn't the most user friendly site and I seem to have my fair share of troubles with it ^^; Would be nice if someone could let me know if they received a message regarding their comment and just didn't feel like replying (which is totally fine) or if they couldn't reply because I have a setting to not receive notes or whatever. I appreciate any help.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter and see you next week!

~Freiha


	22. The Ocarina of Time II: Opened Doors

Soft tunes echoed through the small chamber. Enora sat on the shore of the lake and hung her legs into the water. She was silently listening to the sounds with her eyes closed. This music brought back memories and she wondered where the memories came from. Heroes clad in green fighting monsters, princesses with golden hair summoning magic,...familiar scenes and yet Enora couldn't figure out where she'd seen such events before.

Relentlessly, Link practiced the fingering of the ocarina. At first the tunes were shaky and off-key, but it got better and better such that by now, the music was a delight to listen to.

The Zora was right. It wasn't difficult to handle the instrument. Link had quickly found pleasure in the sound he elicited from the ocarina.

"There is no specific song you have to play to reach the Daughter of the Goddesses. If the music comes from the heart, it is guaranteed to be the right one," explained the Zora. She gasped silently as her gaze fell on a spot behind Link, where the cave wall was covered with a golden shimmer. Neither Link nor Enora noticed.

v~v*v~v*v~v

"What do you mean, he got away?!" Furiously, the fake princess stared at the red-haired woman in front of her, who still wore the blood-red shimmering cape draped around her shoulders. "Didn't I tell you not to underestimate him?!"

"I didn't underestimate him. He got some unexpected help, that's all." The redhead rose and returned Zelda's gaze. "But it'll be much more exciting this way." A cunning grin played around her lips. "It will be my pleasure to tear him apart and watch the last bit of life leave his eyes."

With a sigh Zelda settled down on her throne. Several candles on a candelabra illuminated the hall and cast a faint glow out the window behind the throne, where darkness swallowed it. "Do you at least know what he is up to?"

"I thought he was looking for the ocarina," replied the redhead snappishly.

"...and I guess it's because he likes music so much." Furiously, Zelda turned to the candelabra and watched the flames dance. Her hand flattened the edge of a thick book that had clearly seen better days. The open page depicted a portrait of a beautiful woman. "At least we have a clue... right, Seymara?" Her fingernails dug into the picture and cut through the paper, leaving crevices in the image of the woman.

"Go and find him before he finds her! She might be dangerous for us!"

v~v*v~v*v~v

The water looked like liquid gold when a big wolf crossed the lake. Its paws barely touched the surface as he walked towards a group of three slumbering people.

Its glowing fur cast a soft light on the cave wall, leaving a glistening mist as the wolf carefully stepped over the blond Hylian and blue-haired girl.

Slowly it lowered its wet nose and touched the Zora carefully on her shoulder.

She muttered something in Ancient Hylian before she opened her eyes. When she noticed the animal she sat up quickly.

"Is it time already?" she whispered.

The wolf nodded as he turned around and walked back across the lake. Yawning, the Zora rose from her resting place and followed the animal to the opposite side of the room, where they both disappeared in a gap in the wall.

When she caught up with the wolf, he was sitting in front a hole that led from the plain outside of Castle Town directly to Lake Hylia. It was the exit of the tunnel.

He lashed his rod calmly as the gaze of his healthy eye rested on the Zora.

"You have done your task well, Sirelle," he approved. "Keep all this to yourself and hide among your own kind. When the time comes, she will find you."

The Zora nodded before she walked past the wolf.

"Take good care of the two", she said instead of a farewell before she jumped down the hole. In Lake Hylia, she swam against the current, towards Zora's Domain.

The wolf rose and also turned towards the hole. Its gaze wandered up the cliff face to the opening that was just outside Castle Town on the southern plain. With a small leap it landed on a rocky outcrop and followed the path upwards. All that remained was a slight golden shimmer that covered the ground and gradually faded away.

v~v*v~v*v~v

Drowsily Link opened his eyes as an uneasy sensation had woken him. As if someone was watching him.

He sat up yawning and took a look around. The lake glowed in a mild turquoise light.

His hair stand on end as he spotted someone lingered on the opposite bank, his back leaned against the wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest. Link knew the stranger's gaze rested solely on him, even though he could not see his face as the stranger's face was hidden by the darkness.

When the observer noticed that Link had woken up, he pushed himself away from the wall and turned around before slowly walking off into the darkness.

"Wait," the Ordonian shouted after him, leaped to his feet and followed him along the shore of the lake to the other side.

He quickly found the entrance to the passage that the person must have used to leave. He hurried along the narrow path as fast as the darkness would allow him.

Only when the path in front of him dropped steeply did he stop. He came to a halt abruptly a few centimetres from the edge of the abyss.

The stranger had disappeared.

While Link stood alone at the end of the path, he realized how foolish his action had been. It could have been a trap. He hadn't thought of that at first.

Thoughtfully, his eyes flitted upwards.

But maybe the stranger just wanted to show him the way, as Link was now almost at his destination. Somewhere up there must be the entrance to the Shrine of Eternity.

"Link?" Yawning, his partner stepped beside him. "Why did you just take off without me?"

"Pardon, Enora. I just thought there was someone...", muttered the Ordonian and tried to cover up his embarrassment. In his excitement he'd forgotten the girl.

"Where'd she go," said the girl.

Link figured who she meant and shook his head clueless. The Zora had disappeared. Maybe the stranger had... No! He shook his head vigorously. There was no blood to be seen and a fight would have been too noisy to stay unnoticed. Moreover, the person had not given him the impression to be his enemy. Something about him even seemed familiar to Link. 'Rubbish!' he said in his mind. Except for the silhouette, he hadn't seen much of the person. How would he know him?

"Let's pick up where we left off," he suggested, looking for a way to climb up.

Immediately his eyes fell on the exact same ledge the golden wolf had also taken some hours before.

His assumption quickly turned out to be correct when they climbed into the entrance to the cave they had been looking for and followed the tunnel to the room with the altar. Durethel's decaying smell struck them, but this time there was something else, too. Something comforting. It urged Link to move on.

The guardian shook his head impatiently as they entered the room and waved them over.

Unlike the previous times, he had already awoken from his rigidity.

"Have you got the ocarina?" he immediately addressed Link. The Hylian nodded and pulled the instrument from his pocket.

"Very well", the undead muttered and climbed towards Link over the altar and the three sacred stones that were still radiating their magical light. "Give it to me so I can open the shrine."

Reluctantly, the Ordonian kept the instrument out of reach of the decaying hands.

"You have to play a song," Enora explained succinctly, looking suspiciously at the monster.

Her companion nodded and Durethel stepped aside. "Hurry up, then."

Slowly Link put the instrument to his lips. At the same moment golden light filled the room. Like lightning flashing through the sky, a creature attacked teeth dug into his arm and hurled him away with a tremendous force that made any resistance futile. His back crashed against a stalagmite pressing the air out of his lungs. He slowly slid to the floor. The ocarina slid from his hand and rolled out of his field of vision. He could only hear the clatter when the instrument hit the ground.

"Link," Enora screamed and rushed to his side. Groaning, the Ordonian rubbed his back. He raised his head and saw a golden beast locked on Durethel's neck.

The guardian flailed around, trying to shake off the animal. His cries echoed from the walls. It was in vain. The golden beast did not loosen its grip.

Durethel's ax, which had lain before the altar a short time ago but was now in his bony hand, soared through the air and destroyed the ceiling. Boulders fell onto the fighting figures.

After a particularly hard blow, the weapon slipped out of the rotting fingers and whizzed through the air before it got stuck in the stalagmite just next to Link's head.

The Ordonian watched the fight petrified. The skin was peeled from Durethel's bones, where the golden wolf's - as Link finally realized – teeth tore the flesh apart.

The undead pulled the enemy from his back and nailed him to the ground. Gasping for breath, the wolf struggled to free itself.

"Not so easy..." the guard murmured and turned to Link. "Did you really think you could outwit me?!"

"What...?" The Ordonian slowly got to his feet. His back hurt, but he didn't want to show any weakness in front of the guardian. He could not suppress the feeling that he had fallen into a trap at last. "I wasn't trying to trick anyone!"

"LIAR," Durethel barked at him and hurled the wolf in his direction.

Link didn't dodge. Instead he tried to catch the wolf, but was jammed between the animal and the half destroyed stalagmite.

Panting, the golden one rose, didn't look at the Hylian even once, but immediately hurled himself on Durethel again.

"Link, do something," screamed Enora as the guardian struck again. The Ordonian cowered on the ground still panting. "Please", Enora cried and helped him up.

A gentle melody embraced his ears. The whole room was filled with the sweet tunes of an ocarina.

The fighters paused briefly. The face of the wolf was unchanged, but Durethel's face clearly showed his confusion.

Link took advantage of the moment when the two fighters were inattentive and quickly approached with his hand clutched around his sword. Durethel only noticed him when the blade was already whizzing through the air, separating the head from the body.

The guardian collapsed to the floor. Dead for good at last.

When the Ordonian turned around to look for the golden wolf, it had already disappeared.

"Link?" Enora gently pulled on his tunic and held the ocarina out to him. It was still intact. "You must play too," she urged him with a calm voice. Considering the situation her voice was definitely too calm for Link's taste.

Nevertheless, the young man nodded in agreement and sheathed his sword before taking the ocarina. He struggled to calm his breath.

Warily he blew into the instrument. When the first tune was played, the room trembled. A crack opened up behind the altar and grew larger and larger. Link joined in with the melody, which still filled the air and sounded louder and louder the farther the door opened.

Link did not stop playing even after the door had fully opened. He was too baffled by the light that streamed out of the shrine. Though, it did nut hurt his eyes.

In this very light was the person they had been looking for for so long and now he stood here and did not dare to enter the shrine.

Enora grabbed his arm and sought to drag him towards the entrance but the Hylian did not move.

A wave of magic flowed through the room as he finally started to move. Awe-struck, he lowered the ocarina, no longer daring to interrupt the melody with his own tunes.

The shrine was not looking like a shrine. It resembled a forest. Small plants grew between trees, which stood scattered on either side of the path. A crystal-clear stream rippled around the roots of the manifold plants.

Sparkling water gushed down a rock and flowed into the streams that traversed the whole room.

At the top of the rock sat a delicate person. She wore a long, dark blue skirt, which fell in soft folds over her tender legs and shimmered in a soft purple hue. The countless pearls with which it was adorned glittered in the light that streamed through the room from an invisible source.

Long, brown hair fell in soft curls down her back and over her shoulders.

With her eyes closed, the woman just sat there and played the melody that flowed through the whole room originating from her instrument - a silver ocarina.

The newcomers listened devoutly to the music.

Link didn't know how long he stood there, it could have been minutes or even hours, when he decided to address the person. She had obviously not noticed the guests yet.

The moment he set one foot on the ground to approach her, she opened her eyes.

The warm brown smiled at him as she put down her instrument.

* * *

They finally found who they were looking for!

Only one chapter left in the first ark and then we'll go in for some more action!

I have only two more chapters translated and only 8 more chapters fixed... I should get back to work on this story a little more A.S.A.P ^^; Otherwise I might have to move to monthly uploads... :/

Hope you enjoy!


	23. It's not Over yet

She raised her head gracefully. The hand with the ocarina rest on her lap while she eyed the guests.

Beneath the sublime gaze, Link felt small and insignificant. Slowly he got down on his knees and lowered his head. Enora stood motionlessly next to him, captivated by the sight.

"Are you who they call the Daughter of the Goddesses?" Link began softly. Enora simply nodded in agreement without making a sound. Her heart was beating up to her throat, in joyful anticipation that Link would finally ask the question she had been waiting for. She wouldn't dare speak up herself.

With a nod, the woman made the instrument disappear. It disintegrated into small silver particles. "Welcome, Link, chosen hero of Hyrule. Rise." Her voice was soft, similar to the sounds of her ocarina. Link obeyed her command.

She turned to Enora. "Be welcome, too, Aderu!"

The girl looked up at her puzzled. "A...Aderu? Is...is this my real name?"

The daughter smiled. "It is. What are you called?" Although her voice was friendly, there was a certain coolness and indifference in her words. Did she really care or had she just asked to ease Enora's tension?

"Enora," the girl responded truthfully. "Ilia gave me this name."

The daughter of the goddesses just nodded understandingly, but did not say anything.

"I'm glad you made it here unharmed," she muttered, still in the same friendly but indifferent voice. She let her gaze wander through the room as if she was expecting someone else, but then continued undeterred: "Hero Link, did you slay the guardian?" She said this in a cautionary tone, like the one used for a naughty child who was confronted by its parents.

He looked up at her and obviously felt uncomfortable. "I... yes, but I thought... because of the golden wolf and..." He interrupted himself when he noticed her gaze was directed to one of the trees above Link, as if someone was whispering to her from there.

Shouldn't he have killed the guardian in the first place? But the golden wolf attacked it.

The woman did not respond.

"I know of a time when there was none in the land braver than the bearer of the Triforce of Courage." Her gaze was directed at his left hand. He immediately hid it behind his back, embarrassed. "Your opponents are strong. In your present condition, you will hardly be able to defeat them."

Link lowered his gaze and didn't reply. Enora looked up at him. Why was that woman blaming him, even though he had done well. This woman was extremely rude to humiliate him like that. Similar thoughts seemed to be running through Link's head as well, as Enora noticed from his rigid, angry stare at the floor.

The woman examined him earnestly. "Without the fairy queen, you would never have made it this far. You were lucky you have met her."

Unsettled, he stood before her, anger written all over his face. Enora was almost waiting for him to loudly defend himself, but he remained silent.

"The fairy queen made sure you could fully focus on your task."

Link clenched his hands into fists. Enora gently touched his forearm. She wanted to comfort him. That woman had no right to talk to him that way.

But she continued undeterred: "After you saved Hyrule, someone important to you left you. With her, your strength and courage also failed you. Or is it rather the will you lost? The will to fight."

Now Link's had enough. Furious, he stepped forward and confronted the woman's gaze, anger resonating in every word he said: "Enough! With due respect, we came here to find answers, not to be lectured."

Enora hugged Link, but gave the woman an equally angry look.

The woman smiled. Was there satisfaction in her eyes. Was she just trying to provoke him? But what for?

"Well then, ask. What is it you wish to know?"

"Please, Daughter of the Goddesses, can you tell me who I am," pleaded Enora, who could finally ask her question and was happy to change the subject.

The daughter turned to Link. "Link, what do you feel when you are around her?"

The young man looked at his companion as his thoughts tried to put the feeling into words.

The woman remained silent and waited patiently while Link pondered. How should he describe it? He felt comfortable next to her. There was this feeling of ease and safety. Of strength and confidence. That mix of positive feelings that he was familiar with. But why was it so familiar?

The scales fell from his eyes.

Why didn't he think of it from the start? It was absurd. It didn't make sense, and yet it fit together so well. Enora's strange behavior when her body lit up in Ordon Village and scared the monsters away; the fact that no one but himself could touch her; that she knew things she couldn't know; that the Shadows that had escaped from the Cave of Ordeals had avoided her; and last but not least, that his most important and powerful weapon was not where it should have been.

"The master sword," Link whispered. It sounded even sillier voiced than in his mind.

"What?... ...is...is that true?" Holding her breath, the girl looked up at the mysterious woman. She nodded with a smile.

"But...how? Why am I..." She looked down on herself. "...this?"

"Because terrible things are happening in Hyrule. The master sword is a powerful weapon, the only one that can ward off the dark powers. It is this very dark power that has found a way to destroy you. The spell protecting you reacted with the dark power and transformed you to protect you."

Link spoke up again, his eyes still resting on Enora. "But what is this evil power and how can I defeat it without the master sword?"

"You can't," the woman replied brusquely and the coolness in her voice was even more evident.

"What...", contradicted the Ordonian, but was interrupted by her.

"You couldn't have drawn the sword anyway! Your mind is clouded by doubts. It is the courage of the bearer that makes the strength of a sword, but for that the bearer has to trust his own abilities. You don't do that anymore! You have lost your incentive. Your power disappeared together with Princess Midna, and you..."

"Midna? Who...," he mumbled and stopped listening to her. The name stirred something in his memory. But he couldn't figure out what. It was all hidden behind an obscure veil.

The daughter sighed before she continued in a much calmer voice: "Link, don't worry about it, face your new task. There's no point in dwelling on the past."

She spun around and her eyes scurried through the room. She was visibly worried.

"Let's leave," she finally said. It sounded more like an order than a suggestion.

With elegance, she stepped down the rock she had been sitting on.

With a small white flame that was burning in her hand, she illuminated the path as they left the vegetated room.

Outside lay the lifeless body of Durethel. Not a single drop of blood hung from the rotten flesh that had been peeled from his bones.

The woman got down on her knees just beside him and touched a shred of the leathery skin where sharp claws had torn into the tissue.

Quietly she whispered something to the dead body, but Link did not understand.

Her thoughts seemed to drift away for a moment, her gaze staring through the body into nothingness. Then she rose and led the group through the tunnel back outside.

Although she was not wearing shoes, the cold, rough ground did not bother her.

Her steps were hurried, almost hasty.

Why she was in such a hurry all of a sudden was beyond Link's understanding. All he knew was that it worried him, too. Even though his mind was lingering somewhere else. "Midna," he repeated thoughtfully. Why couldn't he grasp the memories? They were there, somewhere deep in his consciousness. Something flared up inside him, but he didn't know what it was, nor what it meant.

They climbed up through the pit towards the surface.

Already alerted by Enora's restless movements behind him, he climbed over the edge of the rift as quietly as possible. The two ladies followed him in some distance.

"I knew it", a dark voice sounded as the Daughter of the Goddesses climbed over the edge onto the plain.

She lifted her head and found herself in the presence of a sturdily built man. His skin hardly stood out against the darkness of the night. Only the red hair, glowing in the light of a torch, betrayed that he was not just a mere shadow.

Behind him stood another man at least twice as tall as the first. The body was covered with individual elements of armor, tied together with a rope. There was probably no suitable armor in his size available. His tail twitched angrily behind him. His face looked like that of an animal, but he walked on two legs, yet supported himself on the ground with one of his long, heavily muscled arms. His free hand was firmly wrapped around Link, who struggled to free himself from the grip. Muscles and blood vessels were visible under the giant's dark, brown fluff-covered skin. Judging by his physique, no human had a chance of competing with him. Link was trapped.

"Long time no see, Link," sneered the red-headed giant.

The young Ordonian paused in his attempts to free himself and stood there thunderstruck as he realized who he was facing. "Ga...Ganondorf?! But how..."

There was no way he could be mistaken. It was Ganondorf, the Gerudo king who had infiltrated Hyrule until Link ended his reign of terror.

Scenes from his memories flashed through Link's mind. He had stabbed the master sword through Ganondorf's chest. Crimson blood slowly crept out from under the lifeless body. The corpse was dissected and burned by morticians; the ashes scattered to the four winds. There was no way he could have survived. How...?

"I see you remember. I'm honestly glad you do."

The Gerudo king's gaze wandered to Enora and then to the other woman.

"Seymara, if I am not mistaken."

The daughter returned his cold look unfazed, but Link could almost feel the anger boiling inside her. "Ganondorf," she squeezed out between clenched teeth. "Release Link! It is not yet time for you two to fight."

Ganondorf laughed coldly. "Now is the perfect time! You've handed yourselves to me on a silver platter." He threw a triumphant glance at Link.

"The Hero of Hyrule is in my hands. At last! I can do what I want with him."

Ganondorf grabbed Link's chin and forced him to look into his eyes. "Don't worry, I won't kill you right away. Not after what you did to me. I will make you suffer first. Your screams shall be my lullaby. I'm looking forward to see the life drain from your rebellious eyes. If I don't have them gouged out by then, that is. Perhaps you'll even give me the pleasure of begging me a little for salvation?" He said the last threat in a lascivious voice and gave Link a sadistic smile. The Hylian had grown paler with every uttered word and was looking up at the Gerudo King with eerily widened eyes.

Ganondorf laughed out loud, while he patted Link's head not quite as gently, making Link flinch.

"Go on indulging in your daydreams. It's as far as this will get," Seymara replied provocatively. "I won't let you have Link so easily! You have no idea who you are dealing with!"

"Oh, I know very well who you are and what power you have. I am not afraid of you. You cannot harm me." Dauntingly he towered over the woman. She didn't show any sign of intimidation, just shoved Enora a little further behind her back, out of Ganondorf's field of vision. Luckily he didn't notice.

"It's not my fate to kill you. Though, if you leave me no choice, I will not shy away." She raised a hand and thin magical threads appeared around her arm. Enora took a step back.

Ganondorf just laughed. "You're threatening me? Try one more time and Link will suffer." He gave the giant a sign and the latter squeezed Link's body tighter. Link groaned painfully.

"Let me offer you a proposal: I'm not interested in you or that girl. I only want him. Leave and you won't be harmed - for now." Ganondorf's spiteful look scurried briefly to Link. Enora saw sheer panic in the Hylian's eyes and her gaze flitted to the woman. Surely the Goddesses' daughter wouldn't...

Seymara smiled confidently. "Do you really think you can blackmail me?"

She took a step towards the Gerudo king. Just at this moment something small and black whizzed through the air, rushed past Link's ear and got stuck in the giant's shoulder.

He released the Ordonian in shock, who immediately slipped from the grip and moved out of reach.

"Nice talking to you," Seymara replied sharply. She let her ocarina appear and hastily played a short melody. Enora, Link and herself disappeared in a glistening light.

"Damn it," Ganondorf sputtered as he gave the giant an angry look. The giant pulled a small black dagger out of his shoulder.

* * *

(Only read the following if you've finished reading the chapter! ;) )

And here she is, in all her glory. Seymara! Even though she only really appears in the last chapter in person, she made it onto the cover. Isn't that great? XD  
We also finally get a glance at who the main antagonist will be. I kinda gave hints every now and then that the shadows were indeed up to something and here's the result of this something. Who expected him to appear? :D

This is the last chapter of the first part of the story and it was the first chapter that I had to heavily rewrite. It basically plays out the same as it did before but I rewrote some parts to improve the flow a little.  
I also took the time to elaborate a little bit on the final scene. Hehe ;)

I'm so excited to finally show you the new cover for the second part. I'm going to upload it next week on my dA and will hopefully think about linking it here in the comment. So keep your eyes open (or remind me if I forgot!)

This might be a good time to give a warning, just in case you ignored it in my comment under the first chapter: This is probably a good point to stop reading this story if you can't handle some blood and gore. It's going to be dark rather quickly from here on. What you've seen so far was mild compared to what's to come. You be warned. ^^

I hope everyone has a good time! =3


	24. Intermission: Escape Into Eternity

How did it come to this? Why did the goddesses let this happen? Horror, despair, murder and slaughter. This was war. War was romanticized in ballads and stories, but reality was cold, brutal and written in blood.

War had been going on for several years now. It was nearly lost. The last bastion would fall that very night.

The attackers had not yet reached the castle, but it wouldn't take them much longer. Death adorned the streets of the outlying town. The residents had either fled or fallen victim to the attackers. They knew no mercy. They were driven by greed and hatred.

The ruler of the nearly defeated country, a young woman, watched the events from one of the balconies of the imperial castle. She had sent her servants away. Some had stayed to protect her. A futile endeavor. They knew it. Their queen knew it. Still, it them something to do. Something to contribute. Hope!

The sovereign hadn't given up all hope either. The goddesses would help her people. She was sure of it.

She held on to her faith, despite the burning houses, the screams, the black masses that gradually came closer and closer. They had almost reached the gates of the castle courtyard. Her own soldiers were fighting for her down there. A nearly hopeless fight, for her vision of a glorious future for the country.

The clashing of colliding swords, the soldiers' cries of agony and the grunts of the enemies reached the pointed ears of the ruler and made her flinch. They seemed menacingly close. The first attackers had presumably invaded the castle and were looking for the last survivors. And for her. She, who had been blessed by the goddesses themselves.

She had fled from the pursuers, but she had been caught up again and again. She had grown tired of running. So she stayed and waited, hoping that the Goddesses had a more merciful fate in store for her. A fate in which she was not tortured to death by an angry mob and torn to pieces.

If she were to escape, only more innocent people would die. And what would become of him then? He, who fought for her. Down there, in the middle of the ruined city. He whom she loved and whose child she carried in her womb. He fought for the land, for her and for a future with their child.

The gates of the castle wall fell with a loud roar and hordes of monsters flooded the court. Lake raging water they tore down flower pots, hedges and fences.

One of the creatures raised its head. It licked the teeth protruding from its mouth. It wasn't human. It was a demonic beast, summoned from the depths of darkness.

The sovereign took a few steps back. Had it seen her? With both hands she held the bulge of her belly to calm her unborn baby - and herself. The attackers moved closer and closer to the castle gates.

She felt a hand on her arm and flinched. She cried out in terror, but gentle fingers closed her mouth to silence the scream.

"Shhh", someone hissed in her ear. "You have to get out of here!"

She was already dragged away from the balcony, behind one of the large tapestries that decorated the throne room. Behind it was a secret passage used by the servants.

She recognized who had saved her. It was him. A weight was lifted from her heart. So he was still alive after all.

"Shade, what are they doing here," she whispered into the darkness, which was only lit by a dimly flickering torch.

Her lover did not answer, but ran down the narrow spiral staircase that went deep inside the castle, away from the raging battle.

The castle walls shuttered as the sound of bursting stones roared through the corridors.

Shade paused and listened. The tips of his blond hair that poked out under his helmet stuck to his sweaty forehead. His armor had countless marks of sharp claws and blood was splattered all over the once polished metal.

His blue eyes shone in the flame and were directed towards the long, straight corridor before them.

"They are in the castle," he whispered, dragging the woman with him again.

His heavy boots crunched at every step. The sounds would surely lure the monsters onto their trail but there was no time to waste.

At the end of the corridor, they climbed up a few steps and arrived outside the castle walls, right next to the mighty gates. Luckily, most of the monsters had already stormed into the castle, which left the castle courtyard deserted.

Frightened, the queen looked around. The guardians of the castle towered next to her: two wolf statues. Only the paws of one were left on its pedestal. The rest of the figure lay scattered around the pedestal. The other statue was missing its head that lay beneath its feet.

Shade dragged her away from the pitiful sight.

As quietly as possible they crept across the courtyard and through the dark and narrow alleyways. They were careful not to attract attention.

Around them were groups of monsters who beat soldiers with clubs or shot their fire arrows into the thatched roofs of the houses. Again and again the escapees had to turn back when they got into a dead end of flames or had to avoid a group of enemies.

Severed limbs and blood puddles lined the path, weapons and armor lay scattered on the ground. From the balcony of the castle she had clearly underestimated the extent of the tragedy, but now, in the middle of the doomed city, she realized what her people had to endure.

Shade flinched briefly every time the body of one of his comrades lay twisted and bleeding on the ground. She felt it through the hand that had taken hers. As commander of the guard he had ordered everyone to flee. His best friends had stayed. Most of them were now lying here. Their bodies would fade in the light of the rising sun, their flesh be devoured by rats. No one would dare come here after the attack to bury the dead.

When they reached the town's gate, Shade drew his sword, still covered in the blood of his enemies, and looked around.

No one guarded the gate? Very suspicious!

"Stay here," he instructed his beloved and gave her a swift kiss on her forehead, before leaving her in the shade of a house.

Carefully he made his way forward, always making sure the queen was still save. He realized too late that he walked right into a trap. Two monsters hid in the towers on either side of the gate. They aimed their bows loaded with fire arrows at him. The first arrow whizzed off the string.

Shade drew his sword and blocked the arrow, which fell to the ground.

The second arrow approached and again the sword whizzed through the air. It was too late and the blade severed the splintering wood. A shrapnel hit bull's eye.

Blood splattered and Shade cried out in pain, stumbling backwards. He fell to his knees, leaning on his sword while he covered his eye with his other hand.

"Shade," the woman cried out and reached out as the monsters nocked arrows and took aim.

A green beam of magic flickered through the blackness of the night. The monsters fell over and remained motionlessly.

Even though dizziness from the use of magic swept over her, she scurried towards the man on the ground, knelt down before him and put her hands on his shoulders.

He raised his head without removing his hand from his right eye. Blood ran down his face from under his fingers and dripped to the ground.

Screeches of the monsters made both wince.

The light of the magic beams had revealed them. They were found.

Without a second thought, Shade jumped to his feet, grabbed the woman and pulled her out of the city. Behind him he could clearly hear the grunts of the monsters and the sound many feet rushing through the alleys. They were coming.

He whistled but did not slow down his steps. A brown horse approached next to him. Its hooves clattered on the ground, its fur glistened in the flames of the burning city.

He helped his beloved mount the horse and seated himself behind her. He spurred the mare even before he had finished mounting her. They quickly left at full gallop.

The castle behind them was brightly ablaze. The highest of the towers collapsed and knocked down the entire right wing. The cloud of dust immediately exploded into flames. The heat reached well beyond the town's gates.

"What have I done," whispered the woman and tears ran down her dirty cheeks. "This...this is all my fault!"

"You mustn't even think that! We both chose this," Shade replied hopeful.

"But our soldiers... they... they are dead. All because of..." She rubbed her stomach and pulled her bare feet closer to the warm horse's shoulder. "I should have stayed. I can't have any more people die because of me." She couldn't let her loyal subjects be slaughtered. She shouldn't run. But she was scarred. She didn't want to die. She wanted to protect her baby. As a queen, the safety of her people was her top priority but she was glad, Shade found her before the monsters did. She felt selfish, but was there really a future for her kingdom, when her baby died? It was their last hope.

Shade replied nothing.

Panting, the horse galloped across the plain, its ears pointed backwards and its nostrils bloated in agitation.

Shade patted the horse's neck, calming her down. "Easy now, pretty girl. Get us out of here!"

The mare bent her neck and relaxed. Her ears twitched backwards again only a few seconds later when she heard hoof patter approaching from behind them.

"Shade! They're following us," the queen shrieked anxiously and huddled closer to her lover.

He took one hand off the rein and put it around her trembling body. "Don't be fearful. Farore will protect you! Nothing will happen to you. Have faith in the Goddesses. They've brought you this far and they won't give you up now."

Behind them another horse appeared. It was black as the night and only stood out from the night sky due to white markings on its legs. On his back sat a slim rider, clad in a black robe.

Shade recognized him and slowed his horse down a little so the pursuer could catch up with them. Finally the steeds galloped side by side.

"Do not be afraid, milady. We will bring you to safety," the newcomer promised and pointed to a large axe hanging from his horse's flank. It was his favorite weapon. "These creatures will be sorry if they harm you or the little one!"

She forced herself to smile, but she couldn't. Distressed, she closed her eyes and pleaded to the Goddesses that all would go well. But... where else could they flee to? The whole country had already fallen to the monsters. They were following her on her flight.

She looked up again when a light engulfed her. A gigantic temple rose before them. The stone pillars towered majestically before them. In between was an entrance, closed by two mighty wings of a majestic gate. On both sides of the entrance stood a gigantic wolf statue similar to the guardians of the castle, but even more impressive. Their golden fur shimmered in the light of the torch and the ruby eyes eerily looked down at them, passing judgment upon the newcomers. It was one of the magnificent temples their ancestors had built centuries ago.

She glanced at Shade's face as he got off his horse and offered her a hand to help her down as well.

Her gaze fell on his bruised eye. He kept it closed but blood still poured out from between the eyelids. A bleeding cut ran from the eyebrow to the cheek. His healthy eye showed his fatigue, his face was ghostly white.

"You'll be safe here."

She allowed herself to slide from the horse's back into his arms and he guided her to the temple. As though by magic, the wings of the gate swung open and let them in. The other rider followed them, carrying the axe in his hand, ready to split any opponent's thorax in two.

The ceiling of the large room in front of them was supported by several columns, which stood on either side of a path leading across the room to an altar. A colossal stone bird spread its wings over the stone table. Elaborate frescoes adorned the ceiling, the columns and the altar. They depicted scenes from the creation of Hyrule by the goddesses Din, Nayru and Farore.

The whole room was flooded by soft light, which seemed to come from everywhere at once. Not a single shadow was cast on the ground.

Time stood still within these walls.

Though, the visitors were unable to see the splendor. They had no time to waste.

They crossed the room and gathered in front of the altar, on which six objects lay. Three were instruments. All of the same kind, but made of different materials. Next to them were three stones. Each one consisted of a golden setting embracing a colored gemstone.

Shade took the silver instrument and walked his beloved past the altar through a small passageway that led into another large room. The moment they entered the room, they felt the magic of old billowing in every corner. Countless plants and trees grew in the chamber. In the middle protruded a rock, from which water was flowing to the ground, where it split into several small streams running across the room.

"You will hide here until Hyrule is safe again," he instructed as he handed her the instrument and kissed her lips tenderly. Tightly embraced, they stood like this for a while until he broke away from her. "Someone will come for you. I promise. Until then...please stay."

She nodded, clasping the instrument with her hands, which was wet from her tears.

Shade turned around and left the room.

Outside, he dropped to his knees before the altar and folded his hands.

"O Goddesses of Hyrule! Watch over her, watch over your daughter."

The three colored stones lit up. Their red, blue and green light flooded the room. The stone gate to the chamber closed with a horrible creak. Through the remaining gap, the woman saw Shade falter. He supported himself with one hand on the floor and lifted his head.

Their eyes met and she could see love in his eyes. Love that was true to her. The love that had given him the strength to make it this far.

He smiled.

"Durethel, promise to protect her!"

She couldn't stand it any longer. She screamed. The man's body collapsed to the cold ground. "Shaaaaaadee!" She rushed to the stone gate, which shut right in front of her fingertips. The crash echoed dull in her ears.

She slammed her fist on the cold stone. Desperately calling his name over and over again.

It remained unanswered.

After a while she slid to the ground in exhaustion. She lay there, her body trembling.

She had lost everything. Her country, her people, her family and Shade. All she had left was her child. A child who had to grow up without its father. A child on whose unborn shoulders rested the fate of Hyrule. She curled herself up and wept bitterly. Her sobs echoed from the bare walls. Not a single soul heard her cries of despair and no one ever would.

* * *

Hello everyone,

How are you doing? It's getting warmer outside but thanks to corona I can stay inside most of the time :)

As regarding this chapter: I'm going to tell you who the woman and the child are :D

Compared to the old version I rewrote whole sections. It's still covering the same events but I fixed the dialogues and added some more descriptions and thoughts to adjust the pacing. It should start slowly, then go into an action sequence and go back to a slow and calmed down note before it ends on drama. While giving it its final proof reading, I payed especially attention to grammar and wordings (as best as I could).

I've uploaded the new cover on my deviantart last week. You can check it out here: deviantart com / freiha / art / Somewhere-Cover-2-847010377 (without the spaces and a dot before the com... )

Next chapter will continue with Link and Enora and we'll dive into the second part of the story. :)

Hope you enjoy!


	25. 3 Months Later

**!~Warning: This chapter contains gore and blood. Let me know, if it's too much for T rating.~!**

* * *

Snowflakes gently swayed down to the earth and joined many others to form a thick blanket of snow.

All of Hyrule was covered in white beauty, only Death Mountain looked unchanged.

Heat rose steadily from the rocks of the volcano, melted the snowflakes into water and let them evaporate before they reached the ground.

A small group of Gorons rolled down the paths of the mountain and gathered below. They exchanged a few words before each went their own way.

The entrance to the mine was still closed - at least that's what it looked like to unwary wanderers, for insiders knew, that it was only an illusion. Anyone could enter and leave at any time.

Inside the mine a lot had changed in the last weeks. It had been converted into a fortress. Large parts of the lava fields had been covered with robust stone slabs to form training grounds on which Gorons improved their punching techniques. Among them was a young Hylian who struggled in a wrestling match against one of the stone-eaters. His tunic lay untouched in a corner of the room, yet the sweat ran down his face. Despite the stone slabs it was still hot in here.

A woman stood on one of the footbridges that once ran across the lava at a few meters height to allow safe passage, but now - thanks to the stone slabs - were rarely used.

Seymara watched the young Hylian, who alternately ducked away under blows and dealt punches. Muscles flexed under his sweaty skin and the blond hair stuck to his forehead.

She only turned away when another person appeared behind her. A young man not much older than Link. He was wearing a dark blue cape and a scarf that he had pulled all the way up to his nose, covering half of his face. He lowered his gaze to greet her, his brown hair falling over his forehead, briefly covering his red eyes.

"What is it, Yae," Seymara asked without a greeting.

"I have a message from Castle Town." He handed her a letter, bowed once more and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Carefully Seymara opened the letter and read the words that had been written down there in scrawling male handwriting.

Yae was a mysterious man who appeared shortly after they had fled Ganondorf. It was his intervention, his dagger, that had allowed Link to escape. When Seymara had escaped with the Ordonian and Enora, it was he had found them to join their group.

Seymara's gaze drifted to Link, who, with a final powerful blow, pushed his opponent out of the ring painted on the ground.

"Enough for today," she shouted to the Ordonian before turning away and disappearing from the room.

Relieved, the young man helped his opponent onto his feet, thanked him for the match and went to the corner where a bowl of water stood next to his tunic. He drank part of the water and poured the rest over his head. The liquid was not as cool as Link had hoped, so the refreshing effect did not occur, much to his disappointment. He took the cloth that lay beside the bowl and used it to dry his face.

His gaze fell on the bandage he was wearing on his left hand. Underneath there was no wound, but pearls, which he hand't taken off yet. In fact, he didn't plan to. Seymara had advised him to wear them and keep them hidden.

He tossed the towel into the empty bowl, put on his tunic and left the room.

They had been hiding here for three months by now. Three months that he had spent almost exclusively in the training room. Three months that Ganondorf had time to bring suffering and destruction upon Hyrule. Every day, Link learned from Yae about the misery that his henchmen were causing in the city, the attacks that Xera and her partner Lugh were responsible for.

There was no escape. No standing up to them.

Peevish, he left the mine behind and leaned on the railing of a ledge that had been turned into a terrace. From here one could see all the way to Kakariko.

The snow was still falling, but here, right next to the mountain, the heat was suffocating.

He hid like a coward behind Seymara's back, while death and destruction struck the people he was supposed to protect.

Yet he had to admit that it was necessary. He had changed in the last three months. He felt stronger, braver, tougher. Slowly he found back to his old self and could gradually come to terms with the events that lay behind him. He owed all of this to Seymara.

At the thought of her his gaze fell back onto his arm.

Thoughtfully he looked at the bandage that hid the pearls he had been wearing since they had been rescued by the silver bird. Until now he had not found out what they were. He began to have a quiet suspicion, but there were hardly any clues to confirm it. Should he go to Seymara and ask her? The silver being had not appeared since he had freed the daughter from her prison. Perhaps that was an obvious clue?

Right now Seymara was probably with Enora and he was not allowed to disturb them.

Since the girl had learned of her true identity as the master sword, she had been instructed by Seymara. She learned how to summon magical bans, perform attack spells and break curses. Just like Link, who had learned that magic flowed in his veins as well. Though he was far less talented than Seymara or Enora.

Enora had become much more skilled in recent weeks. She picked up new things quickly.

By now she had her powers under control and could use them as she pleased. She could even be touched by people without them wincing in pain if she allowed it. Again and again the Ordonian had the feeling that his little partner grew and matured with every lesson she learned. She was no longer the little weak child who lay in Ilia's bed and couldn't remember anything. She still behaved childish most of the time, but Link knew that she was already growing into a young woman.

Seymara had explained to him that the master sword had never before taken human form. Enora had to learn everything from scratch, just like a real child, and she wanted to live her life to the fullest, running, romping, laughing. Link could relate to that. How nice would it be if he could turn back the clock. To a time before Zant's shadow creatures had infested Hyrule. A time when his life was still peaceful and simple. Tending to the goats, playing with the children, fishing in the creek... he missed everything.

A soft hiss filled the air. It was an unnatural sound, yet rather familiar. He remained motionless. He didn't even flinch when something appeared next to him out of thin air.

"Boo," Enora yelled. "Scared, huh?"

"Almost," he replied with a smile without looking at her. H wanted to pay tribute to the memories of the past just a second longer.

"I was too loud again, wasn't I," she murmured and kicked a stone to the side, which rolled under the railing and dropped down the slope of the mountain.

'Well, no daydreaming today, then,' Link thought somewhat disappointed.

"Just a little," replied Seymara, who had just joined them. "But that improves with practice."

Enora looked briefly from the woman to Link and back again before nodding, "I'll try."

With the same hiss she had appeared with, she disappeared into a bright flash of light.

Seymara and Link stood like this for some time before the woman slowly leaned against the railing beside him.

"What's wrong," she asked. "You look gloomy."

Link glanced to her, before turning his eyes back to Kakariko, or some place farther away.

"I just wonder how long we have to stay here and leave Hyrule to fend for itself."

"Until whenever you're ready," replied the magician.

Link snorted imperceptibly. "How will I know when I am?"

"You will feel it," Seymara replied, looking at him expectantly.

Link did not return the gaze. He kept watching Kakariko and so they stood next to each other in utter silence for a while.

"Xera was in Kakariko yesterday," Seymara remarked.

Link startled. "Is anyone hurt?"

Seymara shook her head. "Luda told her we were out of the country."

She waited a moment for his reaction, but his expression remained unchanged.

"I know something that will cheer you up," the woman continued after a pause. "I must go to Castle Town and you will accompany me."

Surprised, he lifted his head to reply when his hand shot up and caught the black cloth that Seymara had thrown to him.

"Yes, immediately," she answered his unvoiced question as she draped a black cape over herself. Link did the same.

He hadn't been back to the city since their escape. Yae had told him everything he knew about what was going on in Castle Town. According to him, the city had mostly become a ghost town. Link had no idea what to expect.

"I must warn you... ...things have changed since you last visited." Seymara took out her silver ocarina and played a tune. The surroundings blurred for a moment and re-formed. At first his surroundings were foggy, but soon it became clear. The pearls around his wrist began to itch on his skin.

They found themselves in a dark room. Several candles lit up wine bottles and barrels, which were stacked in shelves next to and on top of each other.

Without thinking twice, Seymara turned to a staircase leading up to the floor above.

Link curiously followed her as she entered another room, also lit by candles and filled with crates. In one corner were baskets of vegetables - a storage room.

For a while Seymara stopped and listened. The Ordonian took the opportunity. "Where are we", he whispered.

Seymara smiled slightly when she silently asked him to follow her and walked through a door that was the only one leading out of the room. She did not answer the question.

Before he knew it he found himself in the firm embrace of a somewhat chubby, red-haired woman.

"Link! Has Seymara finally taken you with her," she asked happily.

"Telma, we are here for a reason. I suspect Yae has already told you," Seymara began without a greeting.

The landlady left Link, who could now finally take a look around. They were probably in the kitchen of the inn. In the middle of the room was a large stove on which food for the guests simmered in pots of different sizes. Along the walls were cupboards, which certainly contained food, spices and cooking utensils. The door through which the two visitors had come looked exactly like one of the cupboard doors and was therefore difficult for the uninitiated to make out.

"Link, are you coming?" Seymara stood questioningly in the other door leading to the dining room.

"Of course," he mumbled hastily as he hurried to join her.

Telma gave him an encouraging smile as he left the room and she followed him.

In the inn, a few men were sitting around one of the tables, disgruntled. They did not even raise their heads when the three entered the room. They hardly moved at all. The beer mugs before them stood there untouched. The foam of the beer had already settled. It was a bleak sight.

Telma, Seymara and Link left the inn and crossed the courtyard where the stables were located. Travelers who stayed with Telma could put their mounts there.

Excited neighing resounded as the three entered the stable, followed by a loud crackling and something big jumping on Link. The blond lost his balance and fell. He inelegantly landed on the ground. He had no chance to straighten up again, however, when soft warm nostrils nestled his face.

Incredulous, the Ordonian stared into the brown horse's eyes, which looked at him faithfully.

"Epona?" He sat up and patted the velvet nostrils.

It had been over three months since he had seen the mare. When they fled, she had to stay behind, and he thought she'd fallen into Ganondorf's hands. He didn't expect to see her ever again.

"Oh, Epona!" Back on his feet, he snuggled his face into her mane. Overjoyed, he embraced her and patted her neck.

"Where did you find her," he turned to Telma.

The landlady smiled. "It was not I who found her. A friend picked her up outside the gates of the city and brought her in. Since his own stables were destroyed, he asked me to put her here with all his other horses."

As if to confirm her statement, another horse stomped its feet while happily mumbling on some hay.

"What happened to his stable?"

Seymara threw a warning glance at Telma to silence her before answering the question herself, "Ganondorf has allowed his minions to rage in the city. It's not uncommon for buildings to be destroyed in the process." Her gaze became dull for a few seconds. "Come along."

She left the stable, threw the hood over her head and stepped to the stairs leading up to the southern street.

Curiously, Link followed her pulling his hood deep into his face as well. The itching of the beads became stronger as they approached the main street. The sky above him was covered with heavy black clouds that boded no good.

He stepped on the street.

Only a few of the citizens lingered there, most of the stalls were closed and red splashes stuck to the walls of the houses. Doors and shutters of most of the buildings were hanging off their hinges. In the houses themselves only darkness reigned.

"Ganondorf's minions feed on the blood of the people and attack them on the open street," Seymara whispered to him. Her voice echoed little emotion. Was she so callous that she didn't care about all that?

They followed the street to the center of the city.

A grey veil hung over the city. The desolation and despair were almost palpable. A few passers-by crept past them with crooked backs and bowed heads. They had to be the last inhabitants, who either could not leave or were too stubborn to run.

Nobody gave them a glance as another group passed them by.

Seymara and Link continued their way.

"Look around. These people are the last ones left behind. The shadows have spared them so far. Why? Probably to save them for later. The shadows are multiplying. Spreading. There are only few areas of Hyrule left untouched by them."

Link listened intently as he looked into the vacant faces of passersby. They had given up. Could he have done anything about it? Could he have given them hope? Could this hope have helped them? These and many other questions flashed through his mind.

His breath stopped as they reached the center of the city.

Blood-red water was sloshing in the basin. The Triforce on the top of the well, surrounded by the coat of arms of the royal family of Hyrule, was likewise sprinkled with blood. A human head was stuck on one of the golden wings. The blood lined eyes were sunken deep into the sockets. In the water, on the edge of the pool and around the well, lay ripped off arms and legs, bloody shreds of skin and soaked tufts of hair. A tattered corpse leaned against the pool. The head hung lifelessly to one side, exposing the neck, which was missing a shred of skin. Muscle fibers and parts of the spine were clearly visible. The blood on his clothes had long since dried. No one had bothered to clean up and bury the dead. The fountain was avoided by the Hylians.

Seymara's eyes gleamed angrily from under her hood. "As you can see, they do not even stop before this sacred place."

Link nodded, not knowing exactly why she was showing him all of this.

"Defeating the Shadows will not be easy. They are difficult to beat with normal weapons. They have no solid form. Therefore it is essential that you continue your training, strengthen your body and mind and most importantly, improve your magical abilities."

Link nodded. He felt the burden that lay on his shoulders all the more at that moment. Was he up to it? Would he withstand the pressure? Would he be ready in time, before the last Hylian had fallen victim to the blood lust? He could not allow himself to make any mistakes.

"We have to go back," Seymara admonished, and Link nodded, unable to turn his gaze away from the horrible sight he was confronted with.

He watched the scene closely. The blood, the body, the fountain. He didn't want to imagine the cruel way in which the inhabitants of the city had perished.

Seymara touched his shoulder and snapped him out of his thought.

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

Hi everyone,

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

I'm just letting you know that from now on uploads might be delayed. I don't have many translated chapters left and work is keeping me busy. I'll try to keep up biweekly uploads but I can't promise anything from this point on.

Regardless, I hope you have a nice time and enjoy the summer.

Stay healthy!

~Freiha


	26. Visiting Ordon Village

Since his visit in Castle Town, Link was unable to get his mind off of the impressions the city left on him. During the day he performed his duties, much to Seymara's delight, but at night he restlessly roamed the mine or visited Epona, who lived in one of the many caves in a makeshift barn. Link just couldn't leave her behind. If the Ordonian did eventually find sleep, it was usually only for a short time and not without starting up in a sweat. The images of the fountain haunted him. What did it look like in the rest of Hyrule? Zora's Domain? Or Ordon Village?

Five days after their visit, he stood with Seymara in her room and tried to perform one of the numerous spells Seymara taught him.

"Not like that," she commanded him impatiently. "You must first concentrate on the magic in your palms."

Link did not listen to her. Only when she slapped the back of his head did he raise his eyes and met hers.

"Focus," she snapped at him. He ducked his head.

"Sorry," he muttered, but she had already turned away from him.

"Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to take you to town", she sighed as she sat down in a chair, crossed her legs and signed him to sit down as well.

When he dropped onto the chair next to her, she looked at him, surveying his expression. Link knew she was trying to be empathetic. She usually did not succeed

"What's on your mind," she said kindly, yet in a tone that ruled out any excuses from Link's side.

It was Link's turn to sigh as he stared at his hands that lay in his lap, fumbling his fingers.

"I'm worried about Ilya and the others." He lifted his gaze.

Seymara nodded thoughtfully. "You're afraid Ordon Village might meet the same fate as Castle Town and you want to go there to see how things are going?"

Hesitantly, Link nodded: "I know I'm not supposed to leave the mine alone, but I can't think of anything else. The Ordonians are the only family I have."

Disappointment flashed through Seymara's eyes, but Link didn't notice and she immediately regained control of her facial features before she nodded: "I understand how much you care about their health, but Yae is protecting the forest and I know that he takes this task seriously. Be assured nothing will happen to them."

She stood up, implying that the conversation was over.

"Well, shall we continue?"

v~v*v~v*v~v

Link scurried through the dark mine. He couldn't sleep that night either, but he had made up his mind. The sun would rise in a few hours, by then he wanted to be in Ordon Village to make sure everything was okay.

It would take him a day from Kakariko to Ordon Village using Epona, but with Zelda's ocarina he would be a lot faster. He could even be back before someone noticed he was missing. Clutching his hand around the instrument, he sneaked out through the main entrance.

"Who's there?" grumbled a Goron guard who stood next to the mine entrance.

"It's me, Link."

"Hmmm", the stone eater grumbled half-asleep, so Link passed him by.

The Ordonian stood outside the mine on the footbridge that led to the foot of the mountain and drew the the ocarina from his pocket.

Seymara had taught him some melodies that he could use to travel to any place in Hyrule but it was the first time he used them without having her around.

He put the instrument to his lips.

v~v*v~v*v~v

Ilia was standing in the snowy fields. With her eyes closed and her head put back, she enjoyed the warm morning sun on her skin while listening to the sounds of the goats nibbling on their breakfast in the barn.

She heard steps. They were strangely familiar. Could it be...? Before she had time to turn around, her eyes were gently covered by two warm hands.

"Who is it?" Giggling, she pushed them off and turned around. Her face lit up with joy. "Link!"

Her childhood friend smiled. "Long time no see."

"So you haven't forgotten about us after all," Ilia said playfully, but Link wasn't sure if he heard bitterness in her voice.

"I'm sorry, I really wanted to come by earlier, but -" He interrupted himself.

Ilia waited a moment for him to go on, but he kept quiet. She sighed. "It's all right, you don't have to tell me. I'm glad you're here and that's what is important."

She leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "I have something I'd like to show you."

She walked him through the snow without giving him any chance for protest. Hand in hand they crossed the village, Link waving to each villager in a friendly manner, putting on a more or less apologetic expression and nodding towards Ilia, making unmistakably clear that he couldn't stay for a chat.

The Ordonians greeted him back. They all knew Ilia's stubbornness.

While the two of them left the village and walked past Link's tree house, Ilia babbled on and on about what had happened in the last months.

Life had been peaceful. Link felt at ease.

The snow looked like icing on the tree branches and bathed the whole forest in a cold, glittering white.

"Don't look," ordered Ilia without stopping, just before they reached Ordona's fountain. He held his hand in front of his own eyes and Ilia made sure he didn't cheat.

The familiar ripple of water that rushed down the small waterfall and around the stones reached Link's ears.

"Okay, open your eyes!"

Slowly he did as he was told and found himself facing an ice landscape that could not have been any more beautiful.

A thin layer of ice had spread over the stones in the spring, reflecting the icicles on the trees where the warm light of the morning sun broke. The waterfall had turned into an ice sculpture. Thousands of small ice flowers looked like meadow flowers dancing in the gentle breeze due to the crystal-clear water flowing over them. The water itself glittered like a thousand stars.

"That's beautiful," muttered Link, but could not ignore the bitter tang. The fountain had never frozen over before. Not even during the coldest winters. The last time he was here asking Ordona for help, she hadn't shown up. Was there a connection?

"Are you listening to me?" Ilia stood in front of him and looked at him with concern.

"What? Oh... sorry, Ilia. I was deep in thoughts."

"You mean you were daydreaming? Probably of your sweetheart," she teased him, but there was again a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"Not at all," he grinned back. "What did you say?"

"I asked you where Enora was and if you found out anything about her," his lady friend repeated and plopped into the snow.

Link pondered for a moment. Should he tell her? He'd had to lie to her so many times already and didn't really feel like continuing the lies. Perhaps a small part of the truth?

He sighed as Ilia grabbed his arm and pulled him down to her. "Well? Where's she?"

"It's a long story." He made himself comfortable beside her. "I'll try to keep it short, okay? You remember about a year ago when Hyrule was attacked by monsters?"

Ilia nodded curiously. Would he finally tell her everything?

"When you were kidnapped, along with Colin and the others, I followed you and..." He faltered. What happened after that? His memories stopped right there and started again at the point when he had freed the monkeys from the forest shrine.

"What then?" Ilia dug deeper impatiently, eager to finally know the truth.

"I... I don't know." He looked at her disappointed face. Apparently she expected more detailed information and he would have liked to give it to her, but he couldn't.

"I can't really remember. There were monsters, and in order to slay them I was given a magical sword, the Master Sword."

Her eyes began to glow with excitement, but only for a second, when skepticism set in. "You are lying to me! You're just telling me one of the fairy tales Rusl used to tell us when we were little kids."

Link shook his head. "No, it's true. ... I think."

Of course, Ilia wasn't convinced. "Oh, really? Well, what's that got to do with Enora?"

"Well..." Link smiled mysteriously as he leaned over to her and whispered in her ear, "She IS the Master Sword."

With big, incredulous eyes, the blonde stared at him.

"That's why you couldn't touch her."

Still looking somewhat skeptical, she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Oh, of course! We could have thought of that right away!"

There was no mistake. She did not believe him. Did it make sense to insist on it? Or should he leave it at that?

Ilia spared him the answer as she continued: "Is it true what they say? That terrible things are happening in Castle Town? That Hyrule is no longer safe?" She wasn't interested in lingering on the previous topic any longer. She wanted to know what was going on in the world outside of Ordona.

Link looked at her in surprise: "Who told you that?"

Ilia shrugged her shoulders while she drew circles in the snow with her fingers. After a few seconds she added: "Merchants and the postman mentioned it."

Link didn't answer. He just watched Ilia's finger moving through the snow.

"You have something to do with it, right? You are involved in this. Just like back then. That's why you were gone for so long. That's why you won't tell me anything. Am I right?" Ilia's voice was shaking. Was it fear? Worry? Disappointment?

"Ilia, I..." he began. She stopped her finger and looked at him with expectant eyes. Link conceded defeat. There was no use in lying to her. "It's true. I'm sorry I never told you. You can't imagine how hard it is for me to keep so much from you. I don't like doing it, but I have to do it to protect myself. And to protect you. To protect everyone."

Ilia took his hand. "I want to be there for you. If you don't tell me, I can't. What can I do to make you trust me?"

"I trust you, Ilia. Honestly! But trust isn't the problem. I don't know enough myself to tell anybody about it. I'd just make everyone worry."

Ilia looked down disappointed and let go of his hand. He reacted quickly and caught her fingers. "I don't want to scare you, Ilia. Ordon Village is safe. A friend of mine is protecting you. I will save Hyrule. I will save you. I promise. Can you believe me?"

They looked into each other's eyes. Then Ilia nodded, at first timidly but soon vividly. "Yes, I believe you. And I trust you. Please... just come back safe and sound, will you?"

This time it was his turn to nod. "I will! And then we'll go fishing together. Like we used to. And Enora can come too."

Ilia smiled and nodded. "I'm looking forward to it!"

She turned her eyes away and looked at the waterfall. Link did the same. It was truly beautiful. Above them the sun was shining through the treetops. Her rays were warming his face.

His wrist was tingling uncomfortably.

"The pearls!" The thought crossed his mind. "This can't be good!"

Attentively he looked around the clearing. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

He quickly stood up.

"What's wrong," Ilia asked him uneasily. "Hey, wait!" She was already on her feet, chasing the Hylian who was rushing away. They left the fountain, and she bumped straight into him. "Ow! What..."

"Ilia! Stay close to me," Link ordered as he reached over his shoulder. Damn it! The sword. He left it in the mine.

What was he going to do now? He had seen a shadow approaching the village quickly.

Without thinking about it, he ran after it.

Rusl always kept a sword in his house. If Link was fast enough, he could get it before the shadow could cause trouble.

Sera, the owner of the shop, and Moe's wife Uli watched him confused as he rushed through the village and entered Rusl's hut.

A sword was leaning against the wall by the door. Just as he had expected. Quickly he drew the weapon from its sheath and left the house.

"I need to borrow this for a moment," he shouted to Uli, who had no time to contradict him, for a hoarse screech echoed through the valley.

Link looked up. An all-too-familiar two-headed bird, rose with mighty flaps of its wings above the village.

"Ilia! Get to safety," Link shouted to the girl who had just come running into the village. With a nod he also told the Sera and Uli to retreat.

"But Link! That's too dangerous," Ilia objected. She had caught up with him and positioned herself right next to Link. She tugged at his arm, but Link shook her off as gently as he could in this situation.

"Get out of here already! It's too dangerous!"

She swallowed at the desperate tone in his voice. Finally she let go of him, joined Sera and Uli and disappeared with them into the hut.

The shepherds, who had just been taking care of the goats, came running from the meadow to defend their village. Link stopped them with a gesture of his hand before they, too, could take up arms. "Hide! This one is different from anything you've fought before." He knew that none of the Ordonians present were capable of defeating an enemy of this size. There were no fighters in the village, except for him and Rusl. And Rusl wasn't here. He had joined the resistance during Ganondorf's first reign of terror and had probably joined them once more to face the shadows.

The bird rushed down from the sky like an arrow. Link immediately calculated what the monster was aiming for.

"This time the battle will end differently," he shouted to the monster when it realized too late what Link was about to do. Flapping its wings, it tried to regain some height or at least slow down the dive, but the Ordonian had already rammed his sword into the black body.

The bird broke apart and the shadows scattered, describing a curve and plunged at Link again.

He stretched out a hand.

A green ray of magic shot out of his fingertips and hit one of the shadows, which disintegrated into a vortex.

The other shadows rose in horror and circled over the village for a while before launching another attack. This time their target was not Link, but a blond girl who came storming out of one of the houses.

"Ilia!" Link spun around and tried to reach the girl first, but the enemies were faster.

He heard Ilia's cry as she disappeared under an impenetrable wave of black magic.

A beam of bright light broke through the wall. The shadows drifted apart. Everyone of them, who wasn't fast enough, was disintegrated by the light.

A man appeared before Ilia.

"Yae", Link gasped with relief.

The red eyes of the newcomer flashed uneasy to Link. "Are you okay?"

The Ordonian nodded happily, but his heart missed a beat when he noticed Yae's expression that had changed in a split second. The man was serious.

"Seymara wants to talk to you. Now!"


	27. First Loss

"That was foolish of you, Link!" Seymara stood in front of the Ordonian, hands on her hips, staring down at him. He guiltily observed the floor, not daring to meet her gaze.

Next to Seymara stood Enora, who looked at him with sincere pity. She sympathized with him, even if she was a little offended that he had not taken her with him to Ordon Village. She would have loved to see Ilia again, too.

"Yae was in charge of guarding Ordon Village."

Seymara's facial expression was emotionless and empty. Only her eyes couldn't hide her disappointed. "We've had no reports of attacks on Ordon Village. It was the first time a shadow had appeared there. Don't you think that's a strange coincidence. A shadow attacked while you were there? Your recklessness put them all in danger."

"Seymara, I'm sorry," Link murmured sheepishly.

Enora shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Yes! Please don't be angry with him anymore."

Seymara smiled and said, "I'm not angry with him." Her smile disappeared as quickly as it had come, when she turned to Link once again, but without really talking to him: "I just don't want anything to happen to him."

"Because no one will be able to kill Ganondorf?" Link replied clearly offended.

Struck and aghast, Seymara stared at him. It took a while before she found her voice again. "Is that what you think? That I only put up with you so that you will save Hyrule? What if it was the reason? Would you abandon the country?"

"Of course you do! Would you even talk to me if I wasn't the chosen hero?", Link talked back, anger filling his voice. "You don't care about me! You only care about the chosen hero!"

"That's not true! Why would you think I'd set up an army and gather allies? Only for you to not carry the burden alone!" she yelled back. An outburst of emotion Link hadn't expected. It silenced him.

Seymara shook her head in disappointment and turned away from him, walking slowly up and down the room. "I think it's time you grow up and start trusting your comrades. You're not all alone this time! You trusted Midn-"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't know who Midna is," he exclaimed. "I don't know why you bring her up all the time!"

Seymara looked at him with sympathy. "Forgive me. I shouldn't have. You cannot remember her because the fairy queen has taken away your memories of her," Seymara whispered, looking at him with empty eyes. "She thought it was for the best." She sighed and raised her hand, magic twirling around her fingers. "In consideration of your behavior today, I should have done the same and freed you from your other memories as well, so nothing could distract you!"

The magic disappeared and she turned away once more. "Can't you see? You're putting the people you love in danger?"

Her eyes were bright again. As if life had returned to her, they flashed in the same mysteriously deep brown as on the day they first met.

"If you wish, I can strengthen the fairy queen's spell!"

Enora looked curiously at Link, who looked as though he couldn't believe what he had just heard.

Thoughts flashed through his mind. He remembered the fairy queen's words. "Hero Link, you must put your past behind you! Everything that's happened is over and won't come back. Clear your thoughts of all memories that will hinder you in your task. You must concentrate on the things to come."

Then what Seymara had said more than three months ago in the Shrine of Eternity: "Without the fairy queen, you would never have made it this far. You were lucky to have met her. ... The fairy queen made sure you could fully focus on your task. ... Link, don't worry about it, face your new task. There's no point in dwelling on the past."

Is that what they meant? His memories were taken away from him?

Is that why he could only remember fragments? And now Seymara wanted to repeat the whole ordeal? Make it worse?

"You don't have to make up your mind right away," Seymara said in a husky voice. "You can always come to me once you've made a decision."

Link clenched his fists. Why did everyone think they could boss him around?! Mess with his head the way they wanted to? And talk about it as if it was a normal thing to do?

Everybody wanted to control him.

He wanted to yell at Seymara! Tell her what he thought of all of this! But he kept quiet. He remained silent and bottled up all the anger.

Seymara turned around, but before she reached the door she looked back for a moment. "I'll leave the ocarina with you. I trust you to use it wisely! Never put yourself or others in danger, you hear me?" Her gaze penetrated him, as if she was looking straight into his soul. As if she could see a future that Link could not even imagine. Then she left the room without another word.

"Link, would you like to play?" Enora asked after a few minutes of awkward silence, tugging at his tunic.

As if waking up from a deep slumber, he moved and nodded slowly.

v~v*v~v*v~v

"Attack!"

Several shadowy creatures blasted through Kakariko's snow-covered and broad street.

With their broken antlers they shattered the doors of the houses and smashed everything inside. They were looking for a specific person. He must be here. They smelled his scent.

They had picked it up in a remote village in the southern parts of Hyrule. It was the hero's smell. He had to be somewhere. Yet they couldn't find him and it made them furious.

Whoever crossed the Shadows' path was never to be seen again. Crying out in pain was the last they did before the darkness swallowed them.

"That's enough! Bring the prisoner here," a female voice sneered. The creatures paused and dragged a Hylian through the snow to present him to the woman. It was Renado.

The fiery red hair of the woman glimmered in the light of the rising sun and looked like real flames were surrounding her face. Behind her, a much larger man had appeared.

"Leave him alone, Xera. He's not the one we're looking for," he said calmly and looked at the prisoner. The Shadows surrounded the scene and gave the priest a longing glance.

The woman just grinned. "But he must know where the hero is. After all, he's good friends with him."

Her eyes lit up wickedly. She approached the shaman.

"Where's Link hiding," she inquired while narrowing her eyes to slits. She used her magical ability to read his mind. She could find nothing of interest. Although he had met Link many times, there were no memories to suggest the Hylian's current whereabouts.

Renado shook his head slightly without taking his eyes off of her.

"Come on!" Xera yelled at him. She reached for her whip with two sharp blades at its end.

"So: Where. Is. He?" she repeated furiously, grasping her weapon menacingly. It couldn't be. They had combed all of Hyrule for months, but every lead had come to nothing. Many have met the hero, but nobody knew where he was. As if he had completely vanished.

Renado didn't answer. The Shadows came closer.

"TELL ME!" Transforming her anger into strength, she threw her weapon down onto Renado. The blades whizzed through the air. They hit bull's eye, cut deep into the flesh and pierced some ribs. Hot blood stained the stirred snow. Before his dead body could touch the ground, the shadows lunged at the shaman. Within seconds his body was torn into a thousand pieces. His blood trickled away in the snow.

Xera turned around and looked into the disappointed face of the giant behind her.

"You really have to learn to restrain yourself," Lugh said with concern. "If he had known, he can't tell us anymore."

Insulted, the redhead snorted: "If you hadn't let Link get away, we would have saved ourselves all this trouble in the first place, Lugh! All because of one little dagger!"

"Like I said, I got startled, that's all," he defended himself and rubbed his giant paw over his shoulder. "To be honest, I find all of this far too amusing to regret what happened."

Xera could not help but smile. "You're right." She lifted the blade that was still dripping blood to her mouth and licked up the red fluid. "I've had better," she muttered thoughtfully, casting a pejorative glance at the rampaging mob of creatures still working through the dead body. "Let's leave!" With a wink of her hand, the shadow creatures flocked together and took on a new shape. It was that of a dragon. Its head was huge and covered with plates of armor-like bone, its mouth was so big that it could devour a whole group of people with one bite. With thousands of sharp, dagger-like teeth, it could easily shred their soft bodies and crush bones. Instead of eyes, two gigantic horns grew on the sides of the massive skull.

Lugh simply nodded. "What do you suggest we do next?"

Xera jumped onto the dragon's back and held onto a spike that grew out of the dragon's back with one hand. The dragon rose to his strong legs.

"We return to the castle," Xera commanded. With a few strong beats of its leathery wings, the dragon took flight. He held his muscular limbs close to the long, snake-like body while he set off.

Without another signal from its rider, the beast rose into the sky and glided off to the west.

Lugh followed on the ground. His strong legs made the earth shake beneath him.

All that remained was a ruined village, blood splattered in the snow and footprints that lead away from the site of the massacre.

v~v*v~v*v~v

A green flash flickered through the room as Link yanked up his hand and blocked the beam with a blue barrier before he countered with another magic blast.

His opponent skillfully jumped out of its reach, landed on her hands, bounced and flipped back just to land in front of Link. She kept herself very close to the ground. Supported on both hands and one knee Enora brought Link down with her other leg.

The Hylian, surprised by the unexpected attack, stumbled and landed painfully on his back.

"Very good, Aderu," commented Seymara. "Link, you must do bette -"

A Goron, who had come rushing in through the door, interrupted her: "Kakariko has just been attacked."

Without another word, Seymara hurried out of the room, followed by Link and Enora, who had hesitated only briefly. For the first time the Hylian could see a hint of fear on the woman's face and it frightened him much more than he was willing to admit.

While she was still walking she pulled out her ocarina and played the intuitive melody that brought her, Link and Enora to Kakariko.

When they arrived, the Ordonian had to orientate himself first. Were they really in Kakariko? Everything looked so different.

Wood and stones that had once formed houses were lying in clumps on the street. Only the foundation walls of the buildings were still standing - if there was anything left of a building at all.

Horrified, Link walked through the former village, which was nothing more than a heap of rubble. A hand reached for his shoulder and stopped him.

"Wait, Link," Seymara mumbled. The young man returned her gaze and could well imagine what she intended to say.

"Renado and Luda are...," he began, but could not finish the sentence.

The woman nodded slowly as she began to walk, followed by Enora who looked around cautiously as if she expected to be attacked any moment.

"Xera can read minds. Now you understand why I didn't tell Renado where we were hiding," Seymara explained. Her voice was cold and plain. She felt no sympathy for the deceased shaman and his daughter or at least hid it very well. "I thought I could protect him with this." When she turned around, her eyes were empty again, as if they had absorbed all the death that was looming between the destroyed walls.

v~v*v~v*v~v

"Well, what did you find out?" The fake Zelda was lurking on the throne with her legs crossed over the left armrest.

"Nothing. There was nothing to be found anywhere. Neither in Zora's Domain or the desert, nor in Kakariko. Apparently the goatherd and his babysitter have left the country." Xera grinned slyly. "Fled like a cowardly dog!"

The princess also grinned widely, but only briefly before she rose in annoyance and walked to a table with a map of Hyrule spread out on it.

"I don't believe they're outside the borders. Not even in Kakariko, then? That means we've searched all of Hyrule," she murmured.

"Not yet. There's one place missing," Lugh replied and pointed on the map.

The two women stared at the giant with a greedy grin on their faces. Yes, one spot was still untouched. Far to the south, in the forests of Ordona.

v~v*v~v*v~v

Hopelessly Link crept around among the debris of Kakariko. The snow was covered in red stains. The sight turned his stomach. He could not believe what he saw.

He had known the inhabitants. The people had grown as close as family to him. But they were gone. Everyone had left! Just when Kakariko was slowly recovering.

"Link?" He looked up and saw Enora standing next to Seymara and two Gorons who had just arrived and waved him over. The sadness she felt reflected on the girl's face.

He nodded halfheartedly and realized that he couldn't leave Kakariko despite the terrible sight. Something held him here. Leaving now felt wrong. He wanted to do something. He wanted to help. At least bury the remains of the dead.

Anger was building up inside him. He wanted to see the murderers suffer! He wanted to massacre them. Every single one of them! He wanted to avenge his friends.

"Link!" Seymara pulled him from his thoughts.

He managed to avert his gaze and return to the women.

"It's not good for us to stay here for too long," Seymara remarked.

Before the next word crossed her lips, Yae appeared next to her in a cloud of smoke. His brown hair stuck to his sweaty forehead and blood dripped from a cut on his arm. His clothes were torn in several places, showing the grazed skin underneath.

"I finally found you," he gasped. "Ordon Village's under attack!"

* * *

It's been a while ^^;

Situation job-wise has gotten worse on my side and I have to work a lot more than I expected (and I was expecting I have to work a lot). I'm too tired to do any proper internet stuff or to prepare Somewhere chapters. So I have one more chapter finished to upload and will do so if I feel like interneting.

On the positive side: It'll be over much sooner and I'll be back to more or less normal free time by December or at least beginning of next year. Chapter uploads should then continue as normal.

Hope everyone of you is having a nice time. Leave a comment if you like. It sure makes my day and is the best support you can provide for me right now :)

~Freiha


End file.
